Chapter 87: Rare Items Weigh Heavier Than Life
That said, landing a critical on the neck alone isn't exactly easy. I've decapitated two clones — what's left are the dual-blade clone, and the bow clone plus the main body sniping from a distance.
Humming Lich Clone: "RAAAAAA————!!"
I dodged the dual-blade clone as it sang and slashed at me as if dancing, all while forcing my panicked heart to settle. The only reason I could one-shot these clones — never mind them being area boss copies — was the critical hit to a weak point, but even more, the mountain of stacked buffs. If the timers run out, I have to wait through recast cooldowns. And if five minutes pass, my stats plummet. I need to end this fast — but the tighter the wire, the wobblier the balance.
Sunraku: "...There!"
Humming Lich Clone: "RAH, AH, GYEEEE————?!"
The singing skull's death rattle trailed off, its neck and spine severed. I bolted toward the bow clone and the main body. Naturally, they sent arrows and magic my way. I leaped over them with Moon Jumper, then slid into the bow clone's guard the instant Emul's Magic Edge launched toward the main body.
Sunraku: "Uwwwah, something slimy brushed me!"
Emul: "Hey—! That's dangerous...wa!"
Exploiting the trait that all physical attacks phase through unless they carry holy enchantment, I charged forward so that my shoulder grazed the bow clone's body and took its back. A disgustingly clammy sensation dragged across my right shoulder as I passed through — I yelped despite myself — then swung the General Dullahan's Decapitator and sent its head flying.
Two swings remaining. Enemies remaining... just the main body.
Sunraku: "Alright. Surrender cleanly and I'll give you a merciful end. Nice and... clean. Like that."
Its answer came not in words but in magic. The instant I tossed Emul straight up, a blast of miasma hit me head-on. I heard a shriek from somewhere above, but I'm sure it was just the lingering spirits haunting this canyon. Or something like that.
Sunraku: "Your downfall... let's see. Same as mine back then. You just got unlucky...!"
A high overhead stance — the kind that kills you so many times you get sick of it, until you finally uncover the winning line. The same kind the mechanical warrior used. Stance unshakable. Swinging arm without hesitation. Simply, straightforwardly — cleaving down!
Sunraku: "If I had to name it... homage-style Tensei."
What I cut wasn't the Humming Lich's skull — now reduced from chorus to solo. It was its arm. I didn't miss. I just didn't believe a single slash would finish the main body. Firepower from a light warrior padded with buffs lacks the decisive punch. To guarantee the kill... to bring absolute lethality, I'm not the finisher here.
Sunraku: "Good job hanging in there, Decapitator! Just two more swings — tough it out!"
From the downward swing, I pulled my elbow back to its limit, transitioning straight into a thrusting stance that launched the blade forward. This was why I'd held back until now. I activated Growing Pierce and drove the General Dullahan's Decapitator up from below, wrenching it into the Humming Lich's lower jaw and the base of its skull. Growing Pierce — legitimately evolved from the multi-hit thrust skill Drill Piercer — gains bonus damage with every successful hit. Five hits total. The Decapitator's razor-sharp tip, carrying all five hits in the thrust, bored through the Humming Lich's bone.
Crack. A fissure ran through the blade. The Decapitator screamed. But its edge held — it didn't shatter.
Sunraku: "Tougher than the clones after all. I can't finish it... But this is the end for you, tacky skeleton."
Switch. I stepped back from the Humming Lich — the Decapitator now dangling from its neck like an ugly tie — and in my place, a small shadow wielding a sledgehammer sprang forward.
Bilac: "Sorry 'bout this... but I'm smashin' ya to win! Material Focus... Fortress Breaker!!"
Emul: "...Nyaaaaaaaaah— hyebyu!"
The moment I caught Emul — whom I'd hurled pretty hard upward to keep her clear of the miasma — Bilac's upward swing connected with the pommel of the General Dullahan's Decapitator. From what I heard, this was how the two who faced Kirin in the Wethermon fight took down that robot after it transformed.
Sunraku: "Human-powered pile bunker... or in this case, rabbit-powered pile bunker?"
Emul: "Sunraku-san, that was terribly sudden...wa!"
Sunraku: "Here, carrot."
Emul: "Yay— ...no, wait! I'm not falling for—"
Sunraku: "What's this? A bonus second carrot, just for today."
Emul: "Yay!"
Sunraku: "Way too easy."
She's not even a combat job, but at level 98, her full swing launched the Decapitator straight through the Humming Lich's skull — cracks spidering across its entire length — the tip protruding from the back of its head.
Humming Lich: "Kah... ah————!!"
Not even a death cry could escape that skull — pinned through the crown and cranium. Cracks spread across the Humming Lich's body just like the Decapitator's blade, and at last it burst into polygons.
Sunraku: "...Phew. That was some gorgeous full-burst firepower."
Bilac: "Mmggh... I'll take the compliment, but fixin' this comes first!"
As Bilac scooped up the cracked, clattering blade from the ground and began repairs, I picked up the drop item lying beside it.
Sunraku: "Grudge Bone Shard, huh... Reading the description, it seems like a magic- or curse-type item. Probably won't use it."
Best I can do is sell it for cash. Or, actually, why not just toss it into the Inventoria. With the source of the miasma that had plagued this canyon destroyed, the air felt faintly clearer. I looked up at the canyon and suddenly had a thought.
Sunraku: "...Nah, not right now. Yeah."
Still, humans are creatures who, when told not to open something, want to open it. Take Pandora's Box — I'm absolutely certain the gods knew Pandora would open it. Otherwise they wouldn't have pulled a stunt like hiding the key card at the very bottom of the deck. In other words, Pandora may have been a mythic-tier comedian... ah, crap, my thoughts are veering off in a weird direction. Gotta course-correct.
Emul: "...I feel like Sunraku-san is thinking something bad...wa."
Sunraku: "No, no. Nope. Not at all."
Anyway, first things first: head to Eighthold and update the landmark. I persuaded a grumbling Bilac — promising to leave the sword with her later — then took the battered blade from the sulking black rabbit, shoved it in my inventory, and returned to disguise mode. One extremely questionable human — half-naked, wearing nothing but a scarf and a fur coat — concealing two rabbits at the cost of various sacrifices. Actually, Bilac's just too big for Sunraku's avatar; she barely passes as a short cape. Well, doesn't change the fact that it's perverted. Hahaha, I could cry.
Sunraku: "Right..."
I arrived at the eighth city, Eighthold, then briefly returned to Rabituza and disbanded the party. Bilac wanted to repair the Decapitator anyway, so she happily bounced off to the forge with the sword. Emul was pouting, but between carrots and persuasion, I talked her around. Not that I'm her big brother or anything — she's an NPC — but her sheer gullibility is a little worrying.
But what I'm about to do next, at minimum, requires me to be alone — so I can't bring Emul or Bilac along. I glanced sideways: at the exit of the Canyon of the Ancient Souls we'd just passed through, black miasma hung like a curtain, shrouding the canyon's interior. Someone else must be fighting that tacky skeleton in there right now. Good luck, unknown fellow player — without a cleric job, you're about eighty percent screwed.
Sunraku: "Now... time to climb."
My real objective isn't inside the canyon. I looked up at the sheer cliffs towering above — well, not quite sheer. More like a steep slope you could probably scramble up on foot if you tried. Beyond it lay a place packed with those Crystal Scorpions over level 100: the hidden area of the Canyon of the Ancient Souls, the Crystal Nest Cliff. That's where I'm headed.
What are my odds of beating monsters over level 100 alone? None! Then why go? Because there's an unexplored field up there. Who wouldn't go in a game? It's the classic "my character can't possibly clear this yet, but let's go see what it's like anyway" — a picnic that's scouting in name and suicide in practice. What's that, how much can I spend on snacks? Hahaha, I'm charging in fully expecting to get mobbed, so obviously I'm going in with nothing but the skin on my back.
I even took off the Staring Bird Mask. Heave, ho. After about four minutes of scrambling up the cliff, the surface gradually shifted from pure rock to rock with occasional crystal outcroppings. By the time the steep slope flattened out, the ratio had completely reversed.
Sunraku: "Whoa... talk about an impossible field to walk on. The footing's the worst — it's the best."
Crystals of irregular size, irregular angle, irregular length carpeted the cliffside as far as I could see. The state of it was similar to the Prismatic Forest Grotto, but far more fantastical. From what I'd heard, those Crystal Scorpions camouflage themselves by burying into this field when inactive, then go active the moment something enters their detection range.
Still, my Luck's in the triple digits now — rivaling even some sloppy level-cappers. There's no way I'd trigger them that easily...
SKR-SKR-SKR-SKR-SKR. (Three simultaneous activations.)
...Right.
Sunraku: "Okay, stay calm. I'm sightseeing, yes, yes, no problem... DAMMIT, AT LEAST LET ME SPRINT THROUGH AND SEE THE SCENERY!"
I half-bounded, half-sprinted across the nightmarish crystal footing, pushing further and further in. As I ran for my life from three death machines closing in behind me with thunderous footfalls, I spotted light ahead. It was like an aurora. Sunlight scattered wildly through the glittering crystals, a shimmering, beautiful tsunami of light... yeah, that's all Crystal Scorpions.
Sunraku: "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME—THE 'CALL TEN PER ONE' STACKS—BABLARGH!?"
"Mobbed" doesn't even begin to cover it. A single level-seventy-something player versus thirty or more monsters over level 100 going full beatdown. Swallowed by an overkill that overflowed into sheer mass, I didn't last a single second. Crushed. Scattered polygons.
Like I'd give up from just this...!