Chapter 358: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part Twenty-Three
Sunraku: "Hah—ahahaha! Using small fry to stall is the worst move, dumbass!!"
A giant mosquito bisected in one hit. HP restored. Take one step forward. HP drops from Levin Trigger: Hazard's effect, triggering Dead Horizon. To stop my advance, more small-fry copies are spawned. I cut them down, and my HP recovers. With every passing moment, my HP ticks down, and every time it does, Dead Horizon's activation condition is met. And with every death I bring, the mourning dress grows stronger, and the gravestone grows lighter...!!
Sunraku: "Alright, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes!!"
Memento Mori. A greatsword forged from two powers into one blade: the berserk wife driven mad by love, and the General whose head she borrowed and never returned. It's perhaps only natural that this oversized sword demonstrates its abilities by referencing the number of monsters the player has killed.
First: an instant-death effect against opponents lower-leveled than the wielder. The instant-kill rate is apparently the user's level minus the target's level. Combined with R.I.P.'s effect, against low-level monsters, it forces an absurdly unfair instant death. Though with that much of a level gap, just hitting them normally would be pretty much instant death anyway. But the fact that it can force bullshit-tier gameplay even on fairly high-level monsters is far too savage and brutal. RNG is truly evil...!!
Second: every time this weapon kills a monster, it restores durability. Honestly, you could almost call it a straight downgrade from Duxram. But considering this sword was clearly designed for paired use with R.I.P., the effect makes sense. Durability-affecting effects aren't exactly one-of-a-kind anyway.
And finally... the more kills this sword racks up, the "lighter" it becomes. Strictly speaking, the burden on the wielder keeps decreasing. From the outside, it looks like I'm casually swinging a sword that should be nearly impossible to lift... even though its actual weight remains that of a greatsword.
And it's not just the weight that changes. Once this sword reaches a certain level of lightness, its very nature as a weapon shifts. For example, it becomes capable of using straight-sword skills that should normally be impossible. And — as if it's the most natural thing in the world — despite being a greatsword that should occupy both hands...
Sunraku: "Thought I'd be wide open after a full swing!? Too naive!!"
...I can wield it in one hand. One of the heads, thinking it saw an opening after the greatsword's swing, carelessly lunges to bite — and gets carved up by the dragon-severing flames of Areadbhair, letting out a shriek.
That said, even if it's as light as styrofoam, big things are still big. And unwieldy. I mean, this is practically a snowboard with a handle, right? Just swinging a snowboard around one-handed is one thing, but controlling it freely is way too difficult. But put another way, if my movements are simple enough, I can manage it one-handed. For instance, when I'm putting everything into smashing an opening created by Areadbhair Rebuild...!
Sunraku: "I'll whittle you down to one percent of your resources...!!"
Go on, send out your small fry. Keep 'em coming. You're not the only one who gets stronger by killing. At this point, it feels less like swinging a sword and more like waving a giant fan around. But being huge means it draws that much more attention. Alternating between bastard sword and greatsword, I position myself directly in front of the Great Red Devourer. As my HP rises and falls, I compete with "Scarred" — who's monopolizing most of its attention — for aggro.
Sunraku: "Gah, this thing's a pain to use!"
I hurl Areadbhair Rebuild aside and grip Memento Mori with both hands, swinging it full-force. One of the heads about to fire a breath attack gets its lower jaw slammed upward. The breath attack misfires inside its mouth with a muffled explosion. Watching it, I press the offensive further. The word "retreat" no longer exists. Whoever it is — just pierce that thing's weak point and close out this supposedly hopeless battle with a win. If it turns its attention to me, "Scarred" goes free. And the reverse can happen too. It's got lots of heads and each one tracks its own aggro? Who gives a shit. When it comes to numbers of heads... we've got the edge.
Sunraku: "Attack, attack, keep attacking!!"
"Scarred" pins down the Great Red Devourer's main body. I suppress the spawned copies. Together, we nail the aggro completely to the spot. Well, I'm making it sound good, but eighty percent of it is "Scarred" holding the line while I sweep up trash mobs in the corner. I mean, the insta-kill effect on lower-level enemies is just so damn convenient... Though you have to kill small fry just to equip the thing in the first place, so its use cases are limited. But when the conditions line up, it turns into a straight-up musou game...
The arrows that come flying in — barely a token effort — still add up to decent damage over time. The sad truth is that ten arrows equal about one of Emul's spells, so from a DPS standpoint, it's trash. But pointing that out would just turn this into a miserable marathon where they kill their hearts to raise firepower, so I won't say it. Besides, just keeping the tail-head occupied makes the fight way easier. That's a contribution in itself. And their aim is oddly precise — a constant stream of arrows keeps slamming into the area around the Great Red Devourer's giant mouth. We're definitely cornering it. But we're one step short.
We've got firepower. We've got speed. I've even gained durability, scratch-damage-only as it may be. So what's missing...? I've already found the answer. What I need is aggro. And one more thing.
Sunraku: "Deep Throater!"
Deep Throater: "Yes?"
Sunraku: "Send me your aggro..............!!"
I know. Among the spells you've learned, there's gotta be one that amplifies aggro. I've thought of a good way to boost aggro fast. In short: increase the number of heads.
Deep Throater: "My feelings... catch! External Hate!"
An externally reinforced attention magnet. For some reason, my back won't stop tingling, but I'll just write it off as a demerit. But the effect is undeniable. By stealing aggro from "Scarred," one of the heads turns its gaze (heat included) toward me.
Sunraku: "Ah. You. Don't move from that spot."
Deep Throater: "Standing still equals a death sentence, don't you think!?"
Sunraku: "Deep Throater. Stay."
Deep Throater: "Woof woof! Whiiine!"
One aggro source isn't enough. If the aggro I can generate on my own is, say, 50... then with two people, it becomes 100.
Sunraku: "Split the aggro and rebuild it — that means double...!"
Lethal Secret Art: Improved Mirror of Fading. Basically, it feels like a fancy way of saying Lv.MAX, but the name still hints at another stage beyond it. That said, the effect itself is just extended durations and values for each parameter, so the actual usage is the same. It detaches the player's current aggro as a decoy, diverting attention from the real body. Put another way: if you rebuild your aggro, it doubles.
Sunraku: "Effect duration, twenty seconds! Recast time!?"
Deep Throater: "Thirty seconds. If I lower the effect magnitude, I can reuse it in ten...!"
Sunraku: "Go!"
I'll max out my aggro in ten seconds! I bisect a frog-type copy as it lunges for the decoy, then slice diagonally upward across the Great Red Devourer's torso as I close in. It really does hate being attacked there — the massive body twists, trying to pull away. But I'm not letting it escape. I regrip the greatsword, twist my hips, and spin with full force in reverse. As if replaying the previous sequence in rewind, I close the distance while spinning my body and blade together. On the second rotation, Severing Divide activates — a diagonal slash that carves across the Great Red Devourer.
Sunraku: "Out of my way!!"
Activate Sawildanah! A luck-based fist skill. Now that it has entered the Triple-digit Skills tier, on a critical hit, it boosts a random stat other than HP, MP, or STM. This mystic punch blasts away a fly the size of a basketball. Whoops — right in front of me, a wide-open giant mouth. If so, there's no reason to miss this chance. With the fist I just pulled back, I instantly grab Memento Mori and — like handling a billiards cue — thrust toward the red orb deep inside its mouth... But before the killing blow can reach the red orb, a scream erupts from its mouth, forcing my body backward.
Great Red Devourer: "QooaaaaaaaAaAAAAAAaaaAAaAaaaAAAA!!!"
Sunraku: "Guh—!"
A breath attack!? No — it's just a roar. No damage, but knockback included — clever bastard. Telling me not to cut corners, huh? Fine by me. Three heads are directing aggro at me now. Looks like the remaining one is assigned to keeping "Scarred" in check, while the other three plan to finish me off for sure. The annoying tail-head is being held down by Tottori and the elves. That means I can focus on this without a worry.
Deep Throater: "Hey, Sunraku-kun. Is there actually any point in me just standing here?"
Sunraku: "It's necessary to meet a skill's activation condition. Nothing more, nothing less."
Deep Throater: "Woohoo, convenient woman declaration, thanks so much!"
Equipment: good. Distance: good. Action baiting: good. Do your thing, revived weapon of the Divine Era — mirror of the nether king reflecting the abyss! Three heads directing killing intent at me. Six eye sockets, total, blaze and burn out with inner light. Three heat-vision lasers — concentrated piercing power compared to mouth-fired attacks — unleashed solely to kill one person: me.
To meet them, the blooming Dis Pater, Nether King’s Mirror Shield. Not a mirror to reflect light, but the wisdom of the Divine Era that devours light and transforms it into power — it takes the gazes of killing intent head-on.
Sunraku: "...Exceed Charge!!"
Impact.