kscans

Chapter 292 - Interlude: Necropolis Conquest (Part 2)

Esha and the others stepped into the boss room.

It was a completely different place from what they had seen so far. Her first impression was that of a demonic realm.

In the sky was something like a black sun, which for some reason served as a light source, illuminating the surroundings. The background was a writhing mass of blue and black mud, reminiscent of a living creature. The ground was made of flat, brownish rock, but the description of a demonic realm was not far off.

Esha glanced behind her and saw that the door they had entered through was already gone. There was ground behind her as well, but looking closely, she saw that it ended abruptly. When she approached, she could see the same blue and black mud as the background far below the ground.

The location was unknown, but the situation that this ground alone was floating in this space seemed to fit. And if one were to fall from here, they would undoubtedly die. Since it seemed impossible to return, the only option would be to resurrect at their base.

Esha estimated the size of the ground.

For Esha, who fought from a distance, the size was important information.

Gil was supposed to protect her as a Tank, but she couldn't afford to be completely dependent on him. If it came down to it, she would have to dodge or obstruct attacks herself.

The boss had not yet appeared, so Esha quickly surveyed her surroundings.

It was a circular area, probably about three hundred meters in diameter. There were no obstacles. For Esha, this could be described as a slightly difficult situation.

As she was thinking this, Ivan drew Excalibur.

"It's coming soon. Esha, are you ready?"

"I'm ready to shoot, but you better protect me properly."

"I give you my promise."

Gil put on his helm and raised his giant jet-black shield, "Diabolos."

The shield, adorned with a demonic pattern, had the ability to permanently cut all damage, even attribute attacks from magic, by 20 percent. But that wasn't all. It could also convert the damage taken into attack power. There was a limit, but the attack power stored up to the limit was considerable.

The armor and other equipment he wore were all named "Diabolos," and including the set bonus, it ultimately cut all damage by 50 percent. Furthermore, skills that generated Hate Value, like "War Cry," were more powerful, making it a set of armor that any Tank would covet.

"Esha-chan, I'll boost your magic power first, so shoot after that."

Noat said to Esha as she did some stretches.

"Of course. Other than me, only Damian-sama or Ruth-sama will use magic attacks, so you can switch to boosting physical attack power after I shoot once. Do your best to generate more Hate Value than me. I need to fire a second shot."

"Esha-chan is going for a second shot... Even with all these high-firepower people, we can't finish it?"

"It's highly likely we're facing an opponent on the level of a large-scale battle. We're not supposed to be fighting it with just ten people in the first place."

Considering the storyline of the Necropolis, it was highly probable that a Duke-class Demon would appear. Esha had fought one in a Clan War, but that was thanks to Mist repeatedly using zombie attacks to stall it, and she was able to snipe it from the safety of the fortress, so she managed to defeat it in the end.

She didn't expect things to go so smoothly this time.

However, looking at the members here, she couldn't help but feel they might be able to do it.

There was the Hero Ivan, the attack-focused samurai Simon, and the close-quarters combat expert, the Maid Chief. There were many members who could deal massive damage. And thankfully, all of them were primarily physical attackers.

If things went well, with Noat's buff effect boosting their firepower, there was a possibility they could defeat it without Esha needing to fire a second shot. However, battle was unpredictable. It was best to leave a surefire means of victory in reserve.

As Esha was thinking this, the fingers of a giant hand gripped the edge of the ground. The ground shook slightly from the vibration.

A demon's face peeked out. It was only the upper half of its face, and only its eyes moved, darting around. When it confirmed Esha and the others' presence, it let out a laugh. The demon began to move, as if crawling up.

"Noat!"

"Okay! Hmm hmm hmm."

Noat used a song that increased magic attack power. This raised the magic attack power of the entire party.

Esha immediately dropped to one knee, aimed her Beelzebub, and looked at the demon through her scope.

"Destroy."

Ten magic circles of different sizes lined up.

"Watch out!"

Ivan and the others who were in its trajectory immediately moved out of the way.

Immediately after, with a sound so loud it seemed to shake the air, a laser pierced through the magic circles and struck the demon's face directly.

The demon's head snapped back, but it wasn't defeated. Its smiling face turned into a face of rage, and it leaped onto the ground.

After a brief pause, the demon unleashed multiple spells. Fire, lightning, ice, wind. All sorts of magic were aimed at Esha.

But they never reached her. Although the spells were powerful, they were linear, so Gil stood in front of Esha and took them all.

"Hahaha! An attack of this level won't break through my muscles!"

Gil said with a laugh, opened the mouth of his helm slightly, and drank a potion Hayato had made.

"A potion with zero cool down time, is it? As long as I have plenty of these, I cannot lose! Now, come!"

Gil said this and used "War Cry" to generate Hate Value.

"Esha! That was dangerous! What would you have done if we got caught in that?"

"There's no way it would hit you, Ivan. Forget about that and hurry up and generate some Hate Value so the attacks stop coming at me. I'm busy recovering my MP over here."

"It just looks like you're drinking Melon Juice to me... Oh well, here I go!"

As Ivan leaped forward, Simon followed, heading toward the demon.

"So it is a Duke-class demon. This is a rare opportunity. Let us see how far my skills will take me!"

"Esha, that is my position, so you will yield it."

"The Maid Chief's position is in front of that demon. Stop talking and go punch it already."

"I take that as a challenge. Very well. I shall generate more Hate Value than your Destroy."

The Maid Chief said this and used Shukuchi to instantly move in front of the demon.

Damian placed a hand on Ruth's head and ruffled his hair.

"We'll take care of the other demons that spawn. Ruth, don't push yourself."

"O-okay. I have the job of making and handing out medicine, so I'll try to avoid fighting as much as possible."

"Lancelot and I will protect you and Noat-san!"

"Then I'll sing a song to increase physical attack power and dance to lower the demons' stats, so I'm counting on you."

Everyone began to do what they needed to do.

This battle wasn't just against the Duke-class Demon. That demon could summon lower-ranking demons indefinitely. Damian and Maris were the ones to deal with them.

Damian used the "Create Undead" spell to create skeleton warriors. Those warriors began to defeat the approaching demons. Furthermore, Damian himself defeated demons with earth magic and his sword.

Maris, riding Lancelot, also used her lance and shield to defeat the demons.

The demon was still targeting Esha with its attacks, but since they were long-range magic attacks, their power wasn't that high, and Gil was blocking them without any trouble.

And for the demon, those three were probably the most annoying.

Ivan had activated Excalibur's weapon skill "White Lightning," and the white trails of his sword were unleashing an attack so fierce it seemed to paint over the demon.

Simon, on the other hand, was attacking in a way that seemed to interfere with the demon's attacks. He skillfully used his weapon skills to cancel its attacks.

The Maid Chief was aiming for the demon's face with rather acrobatic movements. She dodged the demon's bare-handed attacks and ran up its arm, a move she had only seen in fiction, to get close to the demon's face and unleash a flurry of blows.

Despite all that, the demon's HP had barely decreased. Esha's Destroy had already taken off about two-thirds of its health, but since its HP was automatically regenerating, it felt like it was only slightly decreasing. At this rate, there was no way they would defeat it before the next Destroy.

"Looks like a second shot is necessary. I'll recover my MP. I'm only drinking this Melon Juice because I have to, so don't get the wrong idea. That's all I'll say."

"Who are you talking to, Esha-san?"

A retort came from Ruth, who seemed to have some time on his hands. It pained her heart to layer another joke on a boy who was so much younger than her.

"No, I just want to drink it, so please don't mind me. It's just a little maidenly sentiment."

"Oh, I see?"

He didn't understand, but he pretended to. Esha was impressed that Ruth was a kid who could read the room like that.

And the one who couldn't read the room was the Maid Chief.

"Isn't the Maid Chief generating too much Hate Value? The plan was for everyone to spread it out, with Gil-sama drawing the most."

"Hmph. At this rate, she'll generate more Hate Value than I will. If this continues, the Maid Chief will take the aggro."

The demon's bare-handed attacks were aimed at whoever was obstructing its path, but if she took the aggro, magic attacks would come on top of that. It would be impossible to keep dodging.

So the plan was for Gil to ultimately take the aggro and endure. As long as Esha was safe, it wouldn't be a problem, but it was a problem if the demon's HP regenerated too much before she could fire the next Destroy. There was also the strategy of maintaining the demon's HP at a level where the next Destroy would surely defeat it. Without the Maid Chief, that could become difficult.

"Maid Chief-dono! You're generating too much Hate Value! Tone it down a bit!"

"Even if those are your words, Gil-sama, I cannot obey. A maiden has things she must do."

"...What is she talking about?"

"She's talking about being a maiden, but I don't think you need to listen. In any case, thanks to that, the attacks on me have stopped. I'm fine here now, so please act as a Tank on the front lines... If the Maid Chief takes the aggro, please protect her."

"Hmph? Understood. For now, I shall protect the members on the front lines!"

Gil said this and started running toward the demon.

And he began his aggro-generating attacks.

Perhaps spurred on by the Maid Chief, a target-taking festival had begun on the front lines. It was as if they were competing to see who could deal the most damage.

Damian looked on with an exasperated expression.

"We can't afford to lose here, though..."

"Let's just give up. The Maid Chief has become a demon, all for the sake of being protected by Gil-sama. Even though she's a maiden."

"Ah, I've seen that before. She looked like a fierce god that time. It seems to be working out, and it'll be over with the next Destroy, so I suppose it doesn't matter. Is your MP okay?"

"No problem. All that's left is the cool down time. Well, let's just wait patiently."

"To say 'patiently' in front of that demon is quite something."

Damian said this as he summoned more skeletons to replace the defeated ones and took down the lower-ranking demons.

By the time Destroy's cool down time was over, the demon's HP had also decreased considerably. It was just a little more. They could probably defeat it as is, but it would be faster with Destroy.

Esha thought so and raised her Beelzebub. Then she looked through the scope.

"Des... Whoa!"

Suddenly, the Maid Chief appeared in front of her. She hurriedly stopped Destroy.

"Wait, Esha. That is a bad move."

"Don't use Shukuchi to get here. What's this all of a sudden? I can fire Destroy now, so don't get in my way."

"Esha, I do not wish to defeat you."

"Don't say such dangerous things out of the blue. I haven't eaten your pudding anymore."

"That is not it. We will prolong this battle as much as possible. So stop. I will be the one to bury that demon, so you can just sit there and leisurely drink your Melon Juice."

"...I don't think it's right to do such things just because you want to be protected by Gil-sama."

"Think carefully about which is scarier, the demon or me."

"I will stop firing."

"A wise decision."

"Or rather, it looks like Ivan is about to defeat it, so I don't need to shoot anymore. It feels like it would be faster if everyone just attacked now, don't you think?"

"Eh?"

Before she knew it, everyone except the Maid Chief and Esha was attacking the Duke-class Demon. The only ones nearby were the skeletons Damian had created and the lower-ranking demons fighting them.

The Maid Chief looked toward the Duke-class Demon. All the attacking members were there. And Ivan was attacking with all his might. Thanks to his weapon skill, he was unleashing a continuous attack with movements that surpassed the physical laws of this game.

And for the final blow, he leaped into the air and delivered a high-speed thrust to the demon's chest.

The demon let out a great death cry... no, a laugh, as it dissipated into particles of light.

The Maid Chief dropped to her knees, and then placed both hands on the ground.

Esha, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire later, switched her line of thought to how she had worked hard, so she would have Hayato treat her to something in the real world next time.