8 – Somewhere Strange Warrior Party (8)
“I’ll give you a briefing.”
Arriving at the boss room, I told the party members.
“The boss in front of us is Lizard Road. There isn’t much difference in appearance from the lizard man warrior we saw yesterday. Instead, his physique is unusually large. About three to four times?”
“Then he’s just a big sandbag~♡”
“No, I saw the sorcerer yesterday, you know? Lizard Lord can perform the unique magic of a lizardman like a sorcerer. He’s more exceptional than most sorcerers. Not to mention, he’s already big in size and has tough scales, so he has tremendous strength and power. And on top of that, he utilizes magic to enhance it.”
That’s why Lizard Lord is considered to be a challenging early-game boss. In the beginning of the game, even if you have a good character, they are still in the stage of insufficient development, and their stats are lacking. It’s already difficult to penetrate their defense, but with the use of magic to strengthen their stats…
“So, it’s crucial to defeat Lizard Lord before he can stack buffs several times.”
“But you mentioned he’s tough. How so?”
It may sound simple to defeat him before he can stack buffs, but in the early stages, where stats are lacking, it’s not possible. That’s why Lizard Lord is a formidable opponent.
“Don’t worry. That was the general idea.”
However, that’s a story when playing the game. Looking at the statistics of these guys now, they’re definitely not early-game characters.
“Erin, with your strength, you can easily slash through their scales and tear their skin apart.”
Erin’s sword, with a strength stat of 300, should be able to break through the scales of the Lizard Lord and cut through its flesh.
As this becomes reality…it’s possible that the adjustment has occurred between the stat seen in the game and reality. Anyway, thanks to that, the party members have specs that can easily break through Lizard Lord’s tough defenses.
“And before the buffs are stacked, both magic resistance and divine resistance are a little low. Leticia, Frey, you support firepower as well.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
“Alan, what about you?”
Then, Ser-Aria, taking a sip of alcohol, asked. I looked at her before replying.
“You are naturally Erin’s support as usual. Focus on marking the Lizard Lord.”
“All right! I leave it to you, Lady Erin!”
And then I spoke to Leticia, who was in charge of firepower support.
“Lizard Road will continue to summon underlings at intervals, and they will be with you…”
I glanced to the side. There was a dorky guy next to me, who had been listening absentmindedly to the conversation. As soon as our eyes met, he immediately looked at me.
“Thief, you have to take care of all of them.”
“…Okay.”
“I understand.”
I said,
“For the rear guard, operate within Frey’s barrier, while the vanguard and mid-range units move outside. So, Frey, bless the vanguard and mid-range units.”
“That’s right.”
As Frey approached Erin, the vanguard, and Ser-Aria, the mid-range unit, her hips wiggled. That exposure syndrome patient, there’s no particular reason for her to walk like that if she’s not trying to attract attention, so it must be severe.
If you say so, a virgin? I can’t believe it. It’s like Ser-Aria saying she won’t drink alcohol.
-The Saint Frey activates [Divine Protection].
Nevertheless, the power possessed as a chosen saint by God was certain. Strong blessings were bestowed upon Erinn and Ser-Aria, and the stats of both individuals skyrocketed in an instant.
＜Character Information＞
◈Name: Erinn
◈Occupation: Warrior
◈Stats
[Strength: 360(60▲)] [Agility: 357(80▲)]
[Stamina: 312(70▲)] [Intelligence: 40]
[Mana: 869] [Divine: 355 (70▲)]
◈ Possessed Attributes
[Blade Mastery Lv. 7] [Self-Healing Lv. 4] [Insight Lv. 7] [Sixth Sense Lv. 8] [Sky Guardian’s Blessing Lv. 10] [Earth Guardian’s Blessing Lv. 10] [Sea Guardian’s Blessing Lv. 10] [Mana Resistance Lv. 6] [Disease Resistance Lv. 6] [Immunity to Poison Lv. 10]
Strength, agility, and stamina, stats related to combat, all increased by 60 to 80 points. As a bonus, even the divine stat has slightly increased. The hero’s divinity was the power of the holy sword, so it meant that the blessing enhanced the power manifested by the holy sword.
Almost as much as my own stats were added as a bonus in a single blessing.
One blessing is equivalent to one laborer…
“…This is incredible.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. If there’s anything to brief about, I’ll let you know right away.”
“Got it!”
Finally, is this the end point? I’ve said everything I can say… but honestly, I was worried.
There shouldn’t be any variables up to Lizard Road, but the problem was why we came to this dungeon in the first place: finding traces of the Demon King’s army. That’s a breadcrumb that anyone who’s played an RPG game can roughly guess what it means.
“…I heard there’s another boss behind Lizard Road.”
That’s right. The existence of a hidden boss.
The hero party came searching because traces of the Demon King’s army were found, so of course there must be something. Whatever comes out, let’s brainstorm on how to deal with it. That’s the role of the order.
Erin went forward and opened the door to the boss area. As in an RPG game, there was an immediate response as soon as they stepped into a specific area.
– The boss monster appears. “I don’t know what kind of little rats they are…” The boss monster, ‘Lizard Lord,’ roars! “Forget about going back gently!” It was the beginning of the first boss battle. “The start is as discussed! I’ll change the detailed orders depending on the situation!”
The remaining will make their own judgments~?”
“Alright!”
Erin gripped the Holy Sword with one hand and lightly stomped her foot. Swiftly approaching the Lizard Lord with the Gale Sword, she spun around in a full circle.
Kwaang!!!
Just before completing the rotation, the Lizard Lord’s enormous axe struck down where she had been standing. Erin, who had been spinning, smoothly continued her attack.
– Hero Erin activates [Horizontal Slash – Crescent Moon].
Swish!
Erin’s Holy Sword moved swiftly, slashing through the scales and leather of the Lizard Lord like a crescent moon.
“Real good sense you’ve got there…
However, Lizhard Road couldn’t just let Erin go. It wasn’t going to be easy for us either; as a mid-level, we boasted considerable disruptive abilities.
-Sincere Sarahya is activating [Explosion].”
Kwagwang!!
Ser-Ariya’s arrow exploded when it hit Lizhard Road. Although the tough leather of Lizhard Road countered the power of the explosion, the scales could not resist and melted down.
“You arrogant──!!”
-Boss monster, Lizhard Road is activating [Power Enhancement].
As soon as the notification appeared, I spoke.”
“Buff them! Aria, keep distracting so they can’t concentrate!”
“Alright, leave it to me, Master!”
Ser-Aria swiftly pulled out three arrows from her quiver and placed them on her bowstring.
Thwack!
The three arrows landed accurately in the scaled leather of the Lizard Lord, which had been melted minutes ago. Since no skill message appeared, it was simply a result of her skillful techniques.
“Aria! It’s coming from the right!”
Roaaar!
Following the command, Ser-Aria effortlessly dodged the axe swing of the Lizard Lord and seized the opportunity created by her graceful movement, Erin attacked.
And I heard Yeongchang’s voice beside me.
“Oh, spirits of nature. According to our promise, fulfill the obligations of that contract.”
Leticia began summoning the elemental spirits. Soon, four elemental beings appeared. Leticia cracked her whip and exclaimed,
“Kyaha, it’s time to work!”
“Leticia, send Salamander straight ahead and make it shoot flames.”
“Got it. hehehe♥ Did you hear that, Salamander?”
Crack!!
“I’ll hit hard, so you should also unleash your flames with all your might!”
The Salamander moved forward at Leticia’s command. And he swallowed the blazing flame.
– Letitia the Spirit Summoner activates [Fire Eruption].
Phwaaa!!!
As soon as the message appeared, an enormous flame spewed out of the Salamander’s mouth.
Thanks to that, Lizard Lord was placed in a situation of quantum choice, where he had to choose between digging sideways with Erin or facing one of the incoming flames.
Then Lizard Lord swung his axe at Erin and shouted. Of course, Erin avoided it, and instead of protecting Erin, Lizard Lord was exposed to the Salamander’s flames.
At that moment.
“Come at me! My warriors!”
-The boss monster, Lizard Lord, summoned his troops.
It was the usual pattern for a boss monster to summon minions. Various types of Lizardmen appeared around Lizard Lord, and some of them were immediately engulfed in the flames of the Salamander and burned to ashes.
Instead, Lizard Lord suffered less damage and stopped at a point where some scales melted.
“He uses his subordinates as shields.”
Indeed, demons have no qualms about such things.
“Leticia, sweep them away!”
“hehehehe, leave it to me~!”
“Rogue, Shaman. Do you know what to do?”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll trust you.”
Summoning the military, a few shamans also appeared. While they are there, Letizia won’t be able to properly control the spirits, and if they start to buff Lizard Road together, the guy’s defense will skyrocket.
So we have to hope that a capable dou-geol takes care of it.
-The thief activates [Regretful Magic: Silent Killing].
With the skill message, the dou-geol’s hands were covered in shadow. At the same time, similar shadows appeared in the chests of the Lizardman shamans.
This was a skill I had never seen before. Silent Killing? It seemed to be a kind of magic, but… at that moment when I was wondering what that was, dou-geol stabbed his hand with a dagger.
“Ke-e-eek!”
“Kwi-e-eek!!”
Surprisingly, blood gushed from the chests of the sorcerers, causing them to collapse. Instantly, as the sorcerers fell, other lizardmen standing nearby were astounded and astonished.
“What… did you just do?”
Did you remotely explode their hearts? Is there such an unbelievable ability?
“…Allen, I took care of it.”
“T-Thief! Can’t you use that against the Lizard Lord?”
“…Yeah, sorry… I can’t have high resistance to curses…”
“Oh… No need to apologize.”
Well, if anyone could easily use such a fraudulent skill, that would be a problem. It would undermine the Demon King or anyone else for that matter.
Nevertheless, thanks to that, the lizardman sorcerers were swiftly dealt with before they could cast any buffs.
“You did well.”
“…Yeah.”
I praised Dodgeo and immediately gave the next order.
“Leticia, continue to handle the lizardmen with the elementals. Erin and Aria, keep guarding the road!”
“Understood~! Did you hear that? Let’s work hard again, kyahahahaha♥”
“That’s right.”
“Great, great!”
“So, you’re the commander!!”
-The boss monster, Lizard Lord, activates [Iron Club Attack]!
Realizing that this was my order, the Lizard Lord immediately attacked, but I’m not foolish enough to stand in a dangerous place.
Swoooosh!!!
Lizard Road’s axe was blocked by a powerful divine shield. Frey, who had protected me, looked at me and smiled warmly.
Seemingly wanting praise, he said a word.
“Good job, Frey.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Frey said so and focused on Lizard Road’s movement once again. Surprisingly, he seems like the type who craves compliments. I wonder if that’s why he dresses so provocatively?
-Hero Erin activates [Crushing Strike].
-High Archer Ser-Aria activates [Gust Arrow].
Kwaaang!!
Erin’s and Cer-Aria’s attacks hit directly. Lizard Lord staggered easily under the shock, but he wasn’t down yet.
“You guys….”
Aware that all of his attacks were being blocked and only damage was accumulating, Lizard Lord frowned. That meant the pattern changed soon. He immediately issued a new order.
“Erin, step back!”
“What~?”
“Just for a moment!”
Fortunately, Erin heard me and took a distance from Lizard Lord. Right after that, Lizard Lord triggered an aggressive pattern.
-The boss monster, Lizard Lord activates [predator]!
The bastard’s eyes turned crimson from madness. With bloodshot eyes, he glared at his subordinates surrounding him.
From Noble mtl dot com
“Kee, keeak! My lord?”
“Keek, why are you…?”
The lizardmen, sensing something, looked at the lord with fear, but it was already too late.
The Lizard Lord opened his mouth wide and snapped his head forward. In one swift motion, he bit and swallowed several lizardmen.
“Cannibalism…?”
Freya looked at the scene with astonished eyes. Normally, as intelligent beings, higher beings wouldn’t engage in cannibalism. Demons were highly intelligent creatures, so it was natural for cannibalism to rarely occur.
However, the Lizard Lord was voraciously devouring the lizardmen, so it was only expected for Freya to be shocked.
In fact, until entering the extreme difficulty, the Lizard Road does not appear and other bosses do not show this appearance. It is added from the extreme difficulty, and many users reacted with shock to such Lizard Road patterns.
Originally larger than the Lizard Man by about three times, the Lizard Road, which has finished its prey, has now changed to a size of about ten times. As the size increases, the strength also increases and the endurance also increases.
“The boss monster, Lizard Road, is getting wild!”
“Now it’s really starting. Be careful, Erin, as it tries to swallow you up as soon as it catches you in that state.”
“He’s trying to eat a cute girl like me~? That’s ridiculous ♡”
Even after seeing that, Erin still laughed nervously.
Being able to laugh means there’s room to spare. It’s a relief that she’s not nervous.
“Just because it got bigger doesn’t mean the strategy will change. Instead, be careful because it’s faster and stronger than before. Even one hit is dangerous.”
The blow from the Lord in a state of frenzy is stronger than imagination. Even the shield Frey had put on while sitting in one place will barely hold.
So, even if it’s blessed, if you’re hit bare-skinned…
“hahahahaha, that’s so unfair!”
Even as Ser-Aria said that, she placed an arrow on her bow.
These attitudes, as if used to such unreasonable situations, tell us that this insane party is a party of heroes.
I spoke to the party members.
“… Let’s start phase 2.”
The Lizard Lord of the Brilliant Pattern swung his axe recklessly, becoming not only stronger and more enduring but also more agile. Each blow was so menacing that I felt overwhelmed.
However, Erin and Ser-Aria were skillfully dodging the fierce onslaught. As a result, the Lizard Men who couldn’t evade the incredibly fast attacks from Lord Road were being torn apart.
“Keak!”
“My lord… Kwi-aak!”
Somehow, the situation had turned into Leticia’s job to assist Lord Road.
“You little rat-!!”
Regardless of that, Road was too busy catching the little rat scurrying in front of him. Apart from the fact that the little rat occasionally bit him, it felt similar.
Quaang!!
“Yap ♡”
At that moment, Erin, who was running around quickly, jumped onto a spinning axe. Immediately after, her body surged with magic power and shot forward like an arrow.
– Brave warrior Erin activates [Heavenly Insect Sword].
“Hyaaah!”
Unexpectedly, a very girlish battle cry resonated, completely contrasting with her momentum. At that instant, my brain couldn’t process whose voice it was, but of course, it was Erin’s voice.
It doesn’t quite match the image she usually portrays to me… Well, she does look like a girl.
‘Your voice is pretty…’
With a cute cry, Erin’s sword pierces through. Lizard Rod could not keep up with Erin, who quickly climbed up the arm.
Squish!!!
The holy sword deeply pierced the left eyeball. Lizard Rod hastily knocked Erin off his arm with his other hand, but Erin lightly let go of the holy sword, dodged, and then pulled the sword out.
Kyaah!!
And then she grabbed the holy sword stuck in his eyeball and pulled it out.
“aaagh!!”
The spell is activated with a roar soaked in the pain of the road.
– Boss monster, Lizard Road activates [self-healing spell]!
“Aria! Shoot towards the eyes!”
“Leave it to me!”
Serr-Aria leaped quickly. She twisted her body in the air with graceful movements. Despite her posture being reversed, the arrow is still aimed directly at Road’s eyes.
Serr-Aria pulled the bowstring.
– Archer Serr-Aria activates [Hidden Shot].
The arrow is infused with strong magic.
The tightly pulled bowstring is released from the grip of the fingers.
Pang!
The demonstration quickly returned to its place, and a powerful arrow split the wind and flew spinning.
And the arrow hit accurately.
Touquaaang!!!!
The arrow pierced Lizard Lord’s eye. The arrow came out straight through and even pierced the back of his head.
When Ser-Aria flipped her body over and landed on the ground again, Lizard Lord staggered, clutching his eye.
‘It’s done.’
No matter how brilliant the road had been, it was now the end. I gave the final order at the party.
“Now! Attack everything to the Lord! Finish!”
“Allen can only make obvious sounds~ ♡ We also know everything~?”
Erin, Leticia, Doggeo, and Freya all manifested their skills to strike the final blow.
– Warrior Erin activates [White Flower Sword Dance].
– Elemental Mage Leticia activates [Fiery Flames].
– The thief activates [Ten Thousand Blossoms].
– Saint Freya activates [Victory
Relentless strikes rained down on Lizard Road.
The smoke rose hazily due to the deafening noise and impact. Now is the time. While they focused on finishing off Lizard Road, I stealthily moved away from the protective shield.
Although Lizard Road was almost neutralized, it would still take some time for its vast HP to be completely depleted.
In the meantime, I have to find the hidden peace. I need to quickly go and return before my party members lose their focus.
“Was it around here…?”
As I felt around the bricks, there was a clinking sound coming from one side. I lightly pressed on it, and the wall slid open with a creaking sound.
The noise wasn’t as small as I had expected, but it seemed like everyone didn’t hear it, as the clamor from the other side was already spreading. I quietly entered the room, closed the door, and examined the inside.
“That’s…”
There. It’s clearly a treasure chest. Let’s take a quick look inside the box…
“Oh.”
There were shimmering beads placed inside.
＜Item Information＞
◈Name: Ancient God’s gemstone
◈Grade: Hidden
◈Usage Requirements: None
◈Effect: When consumed, the magic stats increase permanently by 100, and gains the [Magic Circulation] and [Magic Recovery] abilities.
Roughly interpreted, it feels like the prison of an ancient god.
As you can see from the character who is inherently devoid of magic, by providing magic to a character who has no magic in the beginning and has very strong physical abilities, it is very efficient to feed it. It allows that character to be utilized until the end of the game.
I myself am someone with 0 magic stats, so by eating this and gaining a magic stat of 100 and even gaining two magic-related attributes at the same time… I can then utilize and train my magic.
“I wondered what would happen if I didn’t have it… Fortunately, I did.”
“Oh, congratulations, Allen! Is that what you were looking for?”
“?”
A voice that shouldn’t be heard was heard. I turned my creaking head to look at the side.
“But what is that?”
There was an alcoholic drinking while looking at me in that place.