kscans

Chapter 139 - All-out War

On Agres Berion's back was a woman, Randa.

As was clear from her cleric's attire, and from the fact that she had used similar magic during the attack on Mist's mansion, Hayato knew she was a user of Holy Magic. He had even anticipated that she might fight alongside Agres.

However, he had not anticipated that she would join the battle riding on its back.

Hitting Randa in that state would be rather difficult. Not only was the dragon-form Agres massive, but it could simply absorb most of the attacks aimed at her.

Agres Berion's resistances made it weak to physical attributes, but it nullified attacks of all other attributes. And it possessed an enormous amount of HP. No matter how much damage it took, Randa would simply heal it with Holy Magic.

For Hayato's group, it was safe to say this was the worst possible combination.

I messed up. I should have used Destroy on Randa-san. I thought she might come, but I never imagined it would be in this way.

Hayato felt a pang of regret, but as if to say such things didn't matter, a few members charged toward Agres Berion.

It was the Hero, Ivan, and the Demon Lord, Lunaria.

"Her MP won't last forever! Just smash him with whatever we've got!"

"No one is stronger than the Demon Lord. I will make him understand that."

Ivan attacked Agres's left leg, and Lunaria attacked its right, at almost the exact same time.

However, Agres's HP did not decrease at all.

"Hah! Your weapons can't even scratch me!"

Ivan's Excalibur unleashed holy-attribute attacks, while Lunaria's Arondight dealt dark-attribute attacks. Thus, they were completely ineffective against Agres, who had perfect resistance to non-physical attribute attacks.

But at those words, Ivan smirked.

"You think Excalibur is only holy attribute? I only use this against tough opponents, but you qualify."

Excalibur's blade began to glow with a white light. It was a sign that its unique weapon skill, "White Lightning," had been activated.

Similarly, Lunaria's Arondight began to glow with a black light. Her "Black Swan" had activated.

Immediately after, both of them began to attack at a speed that seemed to defy the laws of physics. As they did, Agres's HP began to gradually decrease.

"Damn, non-attribute attacks!"

Both Excalibur and Arondight normally dealt attribute attacks, but while their weapon skills were active, their attacks became non-attribute. They were no longer physical attribute attacks, so they didn't exploit Agres's weakness, but the damage was now getting through.

"Regenerate-ssu! Their weapon skills won't last forever-ssu, so we'll just endure with this-ssu!"

"Regenerate," a Holy Magic spell that gradually restored HP. Randa used it on Agres. It gradually restored 1% of the target's maximum HP, so with Agres's current high HP, its recovery rate was considerable. Its HP was regenerating faster than Ivan and Lunaria could reduce it.

"We're going too! Don't let those two have all the glory! Noat!"

At Cecil's words, the others who had been watching were startled into action.

Noat, who had been called upon, nodded with her usual sleepy expression and glanced at the members of the orchestra standing behind her. Then, she fixed her gaze on Agres and began to sing.

The song was "Einherjar." A song whose name meant the souls of bravely fighting warriors, it had the effect of increasing the attack and defense of those within its effective range by 10%. Thanks to the skill-enhancing effect of the orchestra, it was boosted by an additional 5%, for a total increase of 15%.

And then, Cecil charged, holding her Dragon Eater Replica.

"Get lost, you bastard!"

The 96-times damage attack she had demonstrated in the battle with the Fire Dragon, its power now slightly increased by the effect of the song, struck Agres. Its HP decreased by roughly the same amount as the initial Destroy had. Randa healed it immediately, but it was undoubtedly an attack of considerable power.

"How cheeky of you, Cecil. Still, you need to drink a Power Drink and can only use it on dragons, so Destroy is superior."

"So you did care a little, huh? But recovery magic will just cancel it out. We have to do something about Randa-san first—"

"It seems Maris-sama and Mist-sama are targeting her from the sky. They seem to be defending well, but at this rate, it's only a matter of time, don't you think?"

While Ivan, Lunaria, and the others were fighting Agres from the front, Maris's tamer unit and Mist's vampire unit began to circle around to its back and attack Randa.

In addition, a large number of demons summoned by the Demon Summoning Research Association appeared, and Jolth's Bandit clan began to fight with clean coordination.

The members of the Black Rose also joined the attack, following Lunaria's lead. The black knights, meanwhile, acted as what could be called tanks, taking Agres's tail attacks and the like.

Ash and his group also joined the fray, and Agres was so preoccupied with protecting Randa that it was barely able to attack at all.

Are they trying to run out the clock?

If they didn't defeat Agres, they couldn't take the artifact fragment. When Agres appeared as a boss monster, it would only remain on the field for one hour. After that, it would retreat.

The hardline faction only needed to prevent the fragment from being taken, they didn't need to annihilate this side. All they had to do was endure until time ran out.

As Hayato was thinking this, he noticed that Diite had been looking around restlessly for a while now.

"Diite-chan, what's wrong?"

"Well, if Randa-kun is here, don't you think Pat-kun and Od-kun are here too? I forgot to mention, but if Ash-kun or Ren-kun lose to a hardline dragon, the artifact fragment will be stolen from them in reverse. I am worried they might be aiming for Ash-kun from somewhere."

"You forgot that? You're being a little too careless..."

"My apologies. When I was setting it up, it was not like that, but it changed at some point, and I only noticed today. In any case, Randa-kun revealed herself right away, did she not? She must have known the healer would be targeted. Which means, I believe Randa-kun is a decoy."

"A decoy... which means there's a real threat somewhere else. Does that mean they're hiding somewhere...?"

Hayato and Esha looked around just as Diite had. They couldn't find Pat or Od, but they did notice something strange.

Something was falling from high up in the sky. Hayato realized what it was that was falling and used voice chat to warn everyone. It might have been a useless warning, but he judged that he should say it anyway.

"Meteor Swarm is coming! Get out of range!"

It was the wide-range annihilation magic, Meteor Swarm. It was a spell that rained down physical-attribute meteors, but its behavior was slightly different from how it was in the Clan War. In the Clan War, it would rain down on the enemy camp and only affect enemies, but in a normal battle, it damaged friend and foe alike.

That magic had been cast, and multiple meteors were now falling from the sky.

Getting hit by three of them was almost certain death. And they were falling in the area around Agres. Maris, Mist, and their groups, who had been targeting Randa from the sky, and the members who had been attacking Agres, immediately fled.

Agres curled up, holding Randa on its back to shield her from the meteors. And even if Agres was hit by the meteors, Randa could heal its HP.

Hayato figured this must be their strategy.

"That is probably Od-kun's magic. But where did he cast it from? He is not in this plaza, at least."

Diite said this as she looked around again.

They didn't know where he was, but there was no doubt that he was nearby and had cast Meteor Swarm.

The falling meteors were causing the members who had been fighting to panic. Hayato and his group were outside the range of the Meteor Swarm, so they were relatively calm, but Maris and her group, Mist and her group, and the members who had been engaged in close combat were desperately trying to escape.

So we have to take down not just Randa-san, but Od too... which means Pat-san is probably here as well, right? Maybe he's aiming for this chaos to...!

Pat's weapon was a gun. In the midst of this chaos, he could snipe from a distance. And if he were to aim for someone, it would be either Ash or Ren, who had the potential to turn the tide in a single blow.

"Ash! Ren-chan! Pat-san might be targeting you! Be careful!"

"Got it! But right now I'm—"

Just as Ash said that, a gunshot echoed from above the cliff to Hayato's rear.

Immediately after, Ash was sent flying, tumbling across the ground.