kscans

Chapter 95 - Fire Dragon Strategy Meeting

A week after Cecil came to the base, while Hayato was crafting items in his room as usual, Ash, Ren, and Cecil paid him a visit.

According to Ash, they had fought the Fire Dragon Eddy Owl twice since then, and while they had come close, they hadn't been able to defeat it.

The problem was its Flame Form, which nullified physical and fire attribute attacks. Once it entered that state, it became extremely difficult to deal damage.

The players and NPCs had switched to attribute attacks, but they were just one step short on firepower and couldn't finish it off.

"I gave Cecil the Dragon Eater Replica, right? Is that still not enough?"

"That sword is strong, but it's a physical attribute weapon, isn't it? Once it goes into its Flame Form, I can't do a thing. I have some weapon skills with attribute attacks, but none of them are water or ice. So when it gets into that state, I just watch from a distance."

"So, if you had a sword with a water or ice attribute, would that work?"

"Do you have one?"

Cecil looked at Hayato with expectant eyes, but unfortunately, Hayato didn't have such a weapon, so he shook his head in response.

Fundamentally, weapons with attribute attacks couldn't be made with randomly assigned skills. You had to specifically aim to craft a weapon that originally had that kind of attribute attack. For a fire attribute attack, it would be a Flame Sword, and for a lightning attribute attack, a Lightning Sword.

However, there were no such weapons as a Water Sword or an Ice Sword. There was only a crossbow called a Water Shot and a staff called an Ice Rod.

Cecil primarily used one-handed swords, two-handed swords, and katana types, in other words, only things he could wield with his Swordsmanship skill. He couldn't use bows or staves.

As he wondered what to do, Ren enthusiastically raised her hand.

"What about cursed equipment? I have an ice magic sword called Permafrost in my collection. It's a two-handed sword, so I think Cecil-san could use it."

"There's a weapon like that? But it's cursed equipment, right? What kind of effect does it have?"

"Just equipping it gradually reduces your HP. It also slowly deals cold damage to everyone around you. It's an incredibly bothersome weapon!"

"Why do you say that so happily? Still, if it just gradually reduces HP, maybe I can offset it with a dessert-type dish. Besides, it only happens when it's equipped, right? If you keep it in your item bag, the curse won't activate, so you wouldn't even need to eat anything. When the final phase comes, you can just equip the cursed weapon and charge in."

The effects of equipment only apply when it is being worn. Simply keeping it in an item bag will not activate its effects. The same was true for cursed equipment. As long as it wasn't equipped, there were no demerits.

"Are you trying to indirectly make me do something horrible? Charging at the Fire Dragon in its Flame Form..."

"No, I'm not being indirect, I'm saying it straight out."

Hayato's line of thought was that even if Cecil's HP ran out and he fell, he could just be resurrected at a church or temple, so it wasn't a problem. With no death penalty, he saw no reason to hesitate.

But for the one being forced to do it, it was a different story.

"You're tough on me, Hayato! I know I was wrong to make you craft the Dragon Eater until you got a skill you liked, but I'm doing my best, so cut me some slack. Or are you being influenced by Esha? You should be careful, you know?"

"What about me?"

"Geh, you were here?"

Esha was descending the stairs from the second floor.

It was ten in the morning. Hayato figured she had probably just woken up in the real world and logged in.

"Cecil, you've caused trouble for so many people. You should just do it."

"But Esha, you know, right? The rewards from God have restrictions. In exchange for being able to equip any weapon, I can't use an item bag. It means I'd have to equip the cursed weapon from the start."

The rewards granted by this world's God, Diite, were certainly powerful enough to alter even the game's system, but they were not without risk.

In Cecil's case, he could equip any weapon and armor, but in exchange, he couldn't use the special abilities of anyone's exclusive equipment. Not only that, he also had the restriction of being unable to use an item bag.

Furthermore, while Cecil could equip multiple weapons, he did so by reconfiguring his other equipment slots.

Equipment was normally divided into slots for main weapon, sub-weapon, head, upper body, lower body, hands, feet, neck, finger, and arm. Cecil had changed his sub-weapon, finger, arm, and neck slots all into main weapon slots, so he couldn't equip shields, rings, bracelets, or necklaces.

As for Esha, her sharpshooting and magic skills exceeded their upper limits, but in exchange, her other skills were in the negative.

One might think that having negative values in skills she never used would have no effect, but it came with risks. For example, a negative cooking skill would cause the food she made to attack her, and a negative animal taming skill would make even docile monsters attack her on sight.

Because of such risks, Cecil couldn't just carry cursed equipment in an item bag. If he were to use it, he would have to keep it equipped at all times.

"I see, there was that restriction. In that case, why don't you have Ren-san hand it to you directly on-site?"

"If I did that, I'd have to hand over one of my own weapons when I receive it. I'm not too keen on that."

Not being able to use an item bag meant that the moment he received a weapon, he had to equip it. He couldn't accept a new weapon unless he handed over one of his five main weapons.

As a collector, Cecil's mindset was that he didn't want to entrust his weapons to anyone, even temporarily.

"You're so troublesome. Then why not just equip four weapons from the start?"

"No, because, that wouldn't look cool, would it? It's not beautiful."

"Your sense of beauty is irrelevant. Still, you haven't changed. If it weren't for that, you could have been one of the more decent ones in that clan."

"Were there any decent people in that clan? Including you, Esha, I thought everyone was pretty far from normal."

He even thinks of himself as not normal, Hayato thought. But it seems forcing Cecil to do anything more is impossible. It'll be faster to think of another way.

Hayato decided to abandon the idea of using the cursed equipment. He felt it would be more constructive to come up with a different plan than to try and persuade Cecil.

"Alright, let's scrap the cursed equipment strategy. Ren-chan, don't look so blatantly disappointed. Okay then, are there any high-firepower magic users from the Empire? Actually, doesn't Esha have another acquaintance in the Empire?"

"I do, but that one won't come out. I imagine they're defending the Imperial Capital's castle. Besides, they're what you'd call a tank, so magic is out of the question."

"I see. In that case, are there any others..."

"Hayato, can I have a word?"

Ash spoke, then looked around at everyone before speaking again.

"This might not be a conventional approach, but what if we defeat it before it enters its Flame Form?"

"Before its Flame Form...? What do you mean?"

"Simply put, we defeat Eddy Owl with physical attacks before it can activate its Flame Form. Or rather, we don't let it activate it."

"No, isn't that impossible? That dragon's HP is abnormally high, right?"

During the Stampede Hayato had watched on the monitor, despite a considerable number of players and NPCs attacking it, the dragon's HP had barely decreased.

"But Cecil can reduce its HP by a large amount in a single hit. We get its HP down to the very brink of entering its Flame Form, then have Cecil deliver the finishing blow. That Flame Form probably doesn't activate until its HP drops to about one-third. If we can gauge that point correctly, it should be simple."

If they lacked firepower from water and ice attribute attacks, then overwhelming it with physical attacks before it could use its Flame Form seemed like a decent strategy. Hayato thought so, and he looked at Cecil, the one who would actually be doing it.

Cecil grinned. To Hayato, it looked like his eyes were saying, let me do it.

"If that's the plan, then I've got to aim for a new highest damage record! I'll deal more damage than Esha's Destroy!"

"Well, do your best."

Contrary to Cecil's enthusiasm, Esha's response was curt. Whether she thought it was pointless or that he couldn't possibly break the record was unclear, but she didn't seem very interested.

Putting that aside, Hayato thought about something else.

That dragon is also being controlled by a person. They should be able to choose the timing of the Flame Form freely. I should probably check just in case what the conditions for its use are. I know it's like looking at a strategy guide, which is questionable for a game, but if we lose, things could get bad. I'm sure Diite-chan will cooperate.

With that thought, Hayato contacted Diite.