30 – The Suppression of the King (3)
Every time I encountered the King in the game, I would often get frustrated.
This damn bastard never once made it easy for me to defeat him.
A fierce battle? Of course.
No one would want to fight him after dealing with countless monsters and sidekicks.
But it’s not that simple.
Game developers always anticipate the player’s intentions and use them in various ways. And Molting was one of those tricks.
It greatly increased his defense, and with one wrong move, he could even fully restore the boss, whom we had fought so hard to weaken.
Players had to break through that shell and somehow get the King back.
“Phew.”
Honestly, the situation wasn’t looking great.
I had thoroughly prepared my plan, but I was running out of time for growth.
I couldn’t guarantee a victory, even after coming this far.
It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t the worst either.
“I’ve come more than halfway.”
Shedding is a skill that the guy can only use once every few years.
In other words, it probably means that this will be his last survival phase.
Clunk! Clunk!
From beyond the walls of the reality room, the sound of bugs knocking on the wall could be heard. They were still struggling, doing their best to protect their king.
We can’t know when that wall will break.
But one thing hasn’t changed: what I need to do.
To defeat the King as quickly as possible.
That goal remained the same.
“Lily, prepare your magic. The most destructive and swift one.”
“Huff, ugh… just wait a moment. Do you think I’m a magic shooting all-purpose machine?!”
Lily, who was drinking a mana potion, suddenly became irritated.
Perhaps because she used such a powerful magic, her complexion looked a bit pale. Not only that, but Camilla and Adel were also sweating profusely.
In various ways, our party was exhausted.
“Wait, look over there!”
“The summoning circle is gradually becoming blurry.”
But it wasn’t all bad news.
The three summoning circles that the King had set up had been released.
As we needed to focus on healing, other spells were temporarily cancelled.
“From now on, let’s change our formation a bit. Everyone, stick together here and attack the guy quickly.”
I said to my party members.
Until now, I had been the one holding on to the King alone, because they could be in danger.
I have poison resistance and know the guy’s patterns, so I was fine, but they weren’t.
I had held them back in case of any potential injuries.
But now the situation has changed.
Now we need overwhelming firepower.
We have a chance of success if we can pull that guy out of there as quickly as possible.
From then on, we all joined forces and started attacking the King’s chrysalis together. The defensive barrier, which only had a few scratches from my attacks, slowly began to break when the four of us attacked together.
Indeed, their overall stats, including their attack power, were superior to mine.
“Suck-!”
Clang!
Camilla let out a short battle cry as she brought her sword down.
The tough skin of the Sandworm was cleanly severed by her blade.
Being a skilled sword aura user, she could deliver a precise strike, even if it took some time.
“Take that!”
Lily’s refined magic went haywire.
Sharply honed winds mercilessly tore through the Chitin Gloves of the Bug King.
Though each individual force was not enough to pierce the gloves, the accumulation gradually wore them down.
What remained were the thorns of the dimensional insects, encircling him like a fence. They were formidable enough to withstand the blows of a knight’s sword.
Though they were arguably the most annoying of the bunch, I merely gently placed my hand on their thorns.
Whether their thorns were tough or not, in the end, they were still a form of life.
And where there is life, there will be blood.
[‘Bloodsuck’ is cast!]
Ssss.
As if drawn in by a magnet, their blood gradually flowed into my body. I absorbed their energy as much as they had to give.
After siphoning a considerable amount of their energy, I swung my sword toward them.
Clang!
The thorn barrier that protected him was severed more easily than I expected.
Upon seeing this, Camilla muttered quietly.
“Indeed, dark magic does come in handy…”
Well, I haven’t shown my full potential yet.
I was thinking about that when it happened.
Suddenly, a change occurred.
Thud!
A part of the wall was breached, and the bugs began to pour in.
It also meant that the pile of stones that had been protecting us was nearing its end.
Hundreds, thousands of monsters and bugs began to swarm the laboratory.
In a moment of panic, my party members asked.
“Ah! It’s breached! It’s breached!”
“Hero! What do we do now?”
“What should we do? We need to defeat this Balkan guy right now!”
I said that urgently and brandished my sword.
The situation would deteriorate rapidly from this point on.
The horde of insects pouring in was enough to overwhelm us.
Of course, with significant effort, we could possibly manage to hold them back, but…
The best course of action was to end Balkan’s life before that.
My swung sword was the last remaining barrier, soaring towards the bandages. I would cut that guy into pieces through those bandages.
However, Balkan’s reaction was faster than I expected.
Thunk!
In an instant, his hand moved and blocked my Holy Sword.
The sturdy bandage briefly gave him the defense to block my attack.
Crack!
Between the gradually breaking bandages, Balkan’s eyes gleamed fiercely.
“You guys… are really impatient.”
His body was still riddled with wounds. His arm was filled with vital energy, and a long wound remained on his abdomen.
But all his other injuries had been healed.
He came out himself as the situation became critical. Thanks to that, he couldn’t heal all of his wounds, but at least he could continue the fight.
“Darn it.”
I gritted my teeth.
He’s too strong, indeed.
Among the Four Kings that come out first, he’s the most formidable, but his stats were overly boosted.
Usually, just before the monsters attack, they’re pushed to the brink of death one way or another. But this time, they stopped at the level of serious injuries.
Desperation naturally surged.
However, that just motivated me more.
It’s okay. I need to maintain my composure now.
More than I initially expected has piled up, but it’s still within the expected range.
I need to keep doing what I was doing earlier.
“I’m changing the formation. Like before, try to block the bugs as much as possible. Lilly, prepare a powerful spell and send it to Balkan.”
“Are you kidding? How do you expect me to block that many creatures?”
“If we don’t stop them, will we all die here?”
“…Gulp.”
Camilia swallowed her saliva.
It wasn’t a matter of whether we could or couldn’t do it.
If we don’t, we will die. With each passing minute, our end draws near.
I took out a mana potion from my bag and spoke.
“I don’t expect us to stop them all. Just do your best to block them.”
Fortunately, the guy wasn’t in perfect condition either. He had used up his only survival skill, and his bodyguard, the thorn beetle, had also been mostly lost.
Time was running out, but it was still doable enough.
With that in mind, I cast a skill.
After considering the price and reward, I murmured quietly.
“…I offer two of my fingers and enhance my physical abilities for a certain period of time.”
In that moment, two fingers on my left hand disappeared.
Poof!
Blood surged up along with a searing pain that pierced my mind. Perhaps because the situation was urgent, fortunately, no one among the party members saw me.
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Sizzling.
At the same time, my body became strengthened. Unfamiliar power surged through my entire body.
The value of just two fingers.
As I mentioned before, the value of regeneration did not provide much compensation.
As such, the increased ability could only be felt to the slightest degree.
But…
“That’s it?”
Now, even that slightest degree was a precious situation.
Excluding the value that would be permanently damaged, this was the biggest value I could use.
In that manner, I dashed towards the guy again.
The wrinkled face of the guy came into view. The bodyguard, the thorn beetle, which protected him, was no longer there.
“Grr, protect me quickly!!!”
Instead, the guy chose a different method.
He used some of the oncoming bugs as his shield.
Though the party members were trying their best to block them, it was insufficient to stop the flood of creatures with just four people.
“Damn tough bastard.”
I swung my sword without hesitation.
Some strikes only managed to kill a few monsters, while others landed on the guy’s skin.
I have to pierce through. I have to pierce through no matter what it takes.
Since when did that become the only thought in my mind?
And then, at that moment.
“Wrong! I can’t block this!”
“Cough…!”
“Adel? Adel! Ulysses, purify her here!”
Bang! Bang!
The paths that Lily had blocked were continuously pierced through.
The number of incoming insects and monsters became overwhelming.
I swung my sword continuously.