Vol. 10 - Chapter 515 - Battle Against the «General»! Judgement Blow!
Vol. 10 - Chapter 515 - Battle Against the «General»! Judgement Blow!
"Buuurr, Gaaaooooooooo!"
"Ack, what a rattling voice!"
"Hnn, it's kinda scary."
With Sierra at the led, we had approached the area, where the entrance for the below floors was, when the immovable «General» groaned, and then roared.
The emitted roar was comparable to the physical shockwave. Lana raised a startled voice, even Karua's ears trembled slightly.
Our battle had already begun!
"«Quad Aegis of Virtue»! You're not moving anywhere, «Art of War - The Four Armament Shield»!"
Sierra made her move by deploying her shields.
The shield equipped on each side of her waist, and behind the thighs, released a pale light and hovered around Sierra, each taking one cardinal direction. She began with an attack, and directed her shields to launch at the «General» in the formation of an arrow.
"Now, «Impact Shield»!"
Her first choice of the attack was the four shield consecutive attack which she had used in the beginning against Sword Bull-Orc, insta-killing it.
It was my strategy to her to seal the movement of «General». After the first roar, the boss would transition to use «Subordinate Summoning Horn», calling out its subordinate, but the players had devised a way in the game to stop that.
Since «Subordinate Summoning Horn» was an item, you could have either someone with a thief job steal it, or destroy it with the help of Hammer Warrior.
We obviously lacked both options at present, but I thought maybe we could use other weapons to destroy it as well by the virtue of reality correction, or even send it flying from the boss's possession.
If that was possible, we could actually weaken «General» to a considerable extent.
Well, if we failed, we could always fall back to the general strategy, but there's no harm in trying that. Sierra garnered the aggro of boss, and then launched her shields from a distance, their target the «Subordinate Summoning Horn».
However, «General» dealt with them in an unbelievable manner.
It stopped itself from using the horn, and instead used the broadsword Nata to sweep away the approaching shields.
"Burrrrrr!!"
"Ack!"
"It actually repelled them?!"
Holy Moly. If going by the game logic, once the boss had stuck to one action, then it had been impossible for it to cancel it, while the players could act more freely! But he actually stopped! Was it even possible!?
Damnit, I had taken you too lightly, reality. I just never thought even monsters could follow with natural movements in reality!
After confirming all nuisances were away, «General» quietly blew the horn.
"Buuuoooo!"
A deep sound resonated from the «Subordinate Summoning Horn.»
"Uh-huh, we couldn’t stop it. It's a shame, but don't let it get over you. Just follow our plan! Karua and I will attract the attention of subordinates."
"Hn, leave it to me."
"I know. It was worth giving it a try at least. —Return to me, my shields, and... «Shield Force»! «Aura Point»!"
"I will cast buff! «Divine Protection»! «Blessing of Guardian Dog»!"
"Thank you very much, Lana-sama. Then I shall be out to do my part."
At my signal, Karua took her dual dagger stance, and Sierra used taunt skills. Once Lana had casted ATK and DEF buff, Ester dashed in the direction of «General».
"Buuooo!"
"Ooiinkk!"
"They're here, Karua. Let's see... one Archer Bull-Orc, and two «Armored Bull-Orc». There are three of them! Armored Bull-Orc are tough, so target the «Archer» first, Karua."
"Hn!"
"—«Appeal»!"
After summoning three of the subordinates, «General» also didn't waste any time in casting buff on them.
I step forward to stall the armoured enemies while Karua deals with the «Archer» at back. My taunt skill «Appeal» targeted everyone, but since «General» aggro metre was centred on Sierra, it only brought in the attention of three subordinates.
"Armoured opponents are mostly tank oriented so they don't have much offensive power. It'll be easy to stop them on their track."
The «Armored Bull-Orc» were donning a full-body plate armour, along with a huge metal shield on the left hand and an axe on the right. The defence type enemies were always a pain to take down, but to stop them wasn't so. I also held up a shield and pulled in armoured enemies my way.
For now, we had succeeded in completing the first phase of our plan; splitting the boss and its subordinates.
On the boss side, Sierra controlled her shields and deflected «General»'s strike, Ester whittle down its speed with her charge or raging dance attacks, meanwhile Lana supported with healing and long range magic attack. So far, it had been smooth sailing.
"Buuuooooo!!"
"Argh!"
"Ester!"
"I am fine, I dodged it."
Ester had caught up in the «General»'s defensive skill. However, with earlier guidance, Ester fell backward, letting inertia carry herself, almost being parallel to horizontal level, and escaped from the enemy's attack range.
One had to be vary of counterattack after being struck with the defensive skill, but seeing that Ester managed to deal with it by herself, Sierra showed a relieved expression and focused herself on the shield.
"Buuuuuuooo!!"
However, «General» easily repelled the shields. Though befitting of being one of the topmost skills, no matter how many times they're being blown away, the floating shields would immediately return by Sierra's side. And since Sierra herself wasn't holding them, she was also out of loop from damage feedback.
For the «General», it sure must have been a bad dream to deal with never ending shields.
"Grrrrrrraaa!"
"Whoops! It's going to use skill. Ester, get away!"
"Understood!"
«General» tightly clenched the Nata in its hand, and took a large swing while spinning—«General Hurricane». However Ester had long since taken her distance, meanwhile Sierra was already operating her shields from distance, so «General»'s skill was exhausted without dealing any damage to anyone. Originally, the skill had a large range, and had a tank been at the frontline, you could bet that they would have to bear the brunt of it.
Sierra's eyes had widened in surprise.
"This... isn't this combo just too strong."
I heard Sierra's murmur.
Of course, how else could it be worthy of the title 'strongest shield job' in the «Dungeon Activity»? The same had been case for Ester's «Chariot Princess».
"Attack when it has just finished the skill, is it? «Full Throttle Drive»! «Raging Spear War Dance»!"
"Buooohh!?"
After using such a grand move, a gap was obvious in the boss's stance. Ester timed her attack, and lunged at the «General» with a blinking speed. Having no way out to counter that, «General» took massive damage.
Meanwhile, we had been sufficiently dealing with the subordinates ourselves.
"Hn. «Archer» are useless at close distance. —«Delta Stream»!"
"Oiiinkkk!?"
Karua moved with a blinding agility, befuddling the «Acher», and shredded it apart with her skill, pushing it to burst into light particles.
Now, we had two «Armored Bull-Orc» left for ourselves to deal with. Meanwhile, after falling into disadvantage, «General» fired another skill.
"Buuuuoooooo!!"
" "—!!" "
"Ah-hah! It has finally used the 'Protect Thy Lord' skill..."
The armoured enemies, who should have been focusing on me, turned their back on me and dashed toward «General». It was a skill akin to «Link» of Battle Wolf, and would summon the subordinates available on the field in itself, ignoring the effect of taunt or any other skill.
"Oiinkk!!"
"Mooiiinkk!!"
The «Armored Bull-Orc» readied their shield and stood in front of the «General», obviously intending to protect it.
"Now that's a bit annoying."
Sierra unwittingly muttered out.
"Ah, it's going to use that horn again."
"Karua, can you deal with one of them?"
"Can."
After retreating backward, «General» resorted to using the horn a second time. And since there had been «Armored Bull-Orcs» to hold the defence line, we couldn't make it in time.
The summoned subordinates this time were—two Soldier Bull-Orcs.
I was going to handle the first one, while Karua would be focusing on the second one. This time we hadn't such leeway as before, so I transferred my energy on talking them down, instead of playing the tank.
"How's the situation?"
"These meat shields are a slight nuisance. Plus, they're also using the «Cover» skill, which prevents attacks from reaching the «General». Ester and Her Highness Lana's currently putting their focus on armoured opponents."
"—«Long Thrust»! «Triple Shot»!"
"—«Sacred Shining Sabre»! «Rise of Sacred Tree»!"
"Oooiiink!!"
Hearing Sierra's words, I glanced in the boss's direction. Sierra and Lana had just bombarded «Armored Bull-Orcs» with their attack, and despite their tanky nature, it shaved away almost all of the HP. ...Ah, the two subordinates had disappeared into the light particles.
"It's our chance. Zephyr!"
"Sorry to steal your spotlight, but It's time to settle it!"
Urged by Sierra's voice, I dashed in the «General» direction.
«General» prepared to launch an attack, but a shadow approached with an incredible speed and interrupted it.
"Guuoooooohhh!!"
"Not in my watch. «Sixty-Four Force»!"
It was Karua. She must have used «Burst» to rapidly close the distance. In the same instant she had been in close proximity to the boss, she activated her skill as her daggers flashed two arcs.
In the wake, the effect of slashing lines, like cross slash, had engraved onto the Boss's body. The next instant Boss was assaulted with 62 invisible slashes relentlessly.
"Guuaahhh!?"
It was the effect of «Sixty-Four Force» skill; overlapping sixty four slashes in just two flash attacks. It was strong, sure, but it was cooler!
Right, I can't fall behind either!
After confirming Karua had left the boss's side, I turned to «General», who had fallen into a momentarily stiff state from receiving the huge damage, and lunged at it with my «Firmament Sword» clad in lightning.
"Vanishing Lightning Sword. ...«Lightning Banisher»!"
A line of flash trailed the sky.
My sword followed with an unbelievable speed and struck the «General». And a moment later, a streak of lightning and a dazzling radiance fell from the sky. The scene was reminiscent of... heavenly punishment. A single strike of heaven for the enemies of Brave—the enemies of world.
It was one of the peak skills, with its might depending on how close the STR and INT values were, and since two status had been almost close to each other for me, the force that accompanied the skill was tremendous.
Receiving that attack, and even more so that its HP had already received the heavy damage from Ester or Sierra's attack, along with stack damage from Karua, «General»'s HP bar fell to 0. Soon, it glowed up in a light effect and scattered around in particles.
Once the radiance clears off, a «Gold Chest» was enshrined in its place.