Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Necro King Necredin (6)
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‘I figured it might be a buff-type skill.’
Who would’ve thought it was an AoE field.
And not just any field—it was a cheat that added extra hits and splash damage to every attack.
The wraiths exploded in puffs from a single Holy Calling.
Even attacking a wraith right in front of me hit Necredin on his jade throne.
‘This is insane.’
Aren’s turn.
Squeak!
Aren unleashed Execution on one wraith.
The first sword beam sliced through it, followed immediately by the replicated beam cleaving it once more.
Boom boom boom!
Splash damage from the two hits erupted in sequence, engulfing five wraiths in explosions.
[Groooaaah…!]
A genuine scream, unlike anything from previous attempts!
Lightning flashed in my mind.
The moment before my final battle with Barhatan, when I awakened a new Art.
Right before activating Dual Arts against Cecilia, Rose, and Lilian.
It was that same sensation.
‘This is it.’
As turns flew by without respite, we mercilessly tore into Necredin and his wraiths.
The Crimson Flame Ghost Formation’s effect was overwhelming.
Not only Gale Rush, but even Corner Slash became an AoE skill.
Thanks to it, a single Corner Slash stacked two or three weak points at once—a miracle.
‘I wonder what happens if I use this with Cecilia’s Dual Arts.’
Our firepower was overflowing to the point of stray thoughts.
Maybe that’s why.
Last time, defeat loomed on turn 7 when Logia vanished.
But this time, we seized victory by turn 6.
Looking up at Necredin, he and his four wraiths could barely hold their forms.
Sister Arisha’s skin cracked like parched earth, and Shelop’s wraith dangled a severed arm that wouldn’t regenerate.
The battle was nearing its end.
All that remained was the finish.
My turn.
The charged Execution from last turn swept through the wraiths.
It felt satisfying.
[Kyaaaaak!]
With a chilling shriek, Sister Arisha’s form crumbled like a sandcastle.
“Sister…!”
The wraiths fared no better.
Already struggling to maintain their shapes, they blended into the background one by one and vanished.
Is this the end?
‘No, this is the beginning.’
In Sister Arisha’s place, a lich in ink-black robes rose like a shadow.
Two horns protruding from its skull. Skeletal frame too frail to even support the robe.
Yet it emanated unimaginable killing intent toward us—the true boss of this dungeon.
[How intriguing.]
Necro King Necredin made his entrance.
Phase 2 had begun.
Murderous magic whipped into a storm.
The storm shattered the jade throne beneath Necredin in an instant, then expanded around him.
Yes, this is the Necredin I knew.
Of course, it wouldn’t match the original exactly.
I’d already warned the party.
From here on, it was uncharted territory.
But I’d experienced it countless times.
Attempts hold the answers.
‘First, bait him.’
As Necredin spread his arms wide, four ominous tombstones plummeted from the air.
The magic blanketing the ground resonated with the tombstones, and skeletal fiends began crawling out from below.
Necredin’s summoning pattern from the original.
‘There’s definitely more. Bring it all out.’
Yet for some reason, gems floated above each fiend’s head.
Necredin floated back silently, beginning his incantation.
Huh? Something’s off.
Why is it following the original pattern?
This bullshit boss who set entry limits, tormented us with wraiths, used poison, linked with blood boars, and had a wipe mechanic.
And now in phase 2, it’s suddenly identical to the original?
‘Still, there’s gotta be something.’
My thought was cut short by a vivid blue gem appearing above my head.
‘…Nothing?’
While I stood dumbfounded, Necredin began casting, and the skeleton soldiers charged us.
Their movements were clearly slower and creakier than the wraiths.
More importantly, without the psychological pressure, they posed no threat.
‘Climood, you bastard…’
Did he dump everything into phase 1?
Convinced we’d wipe 100% there?
Not entirely wrong, of course.
‘Pisses me off.’
I glanced down at the still-active Crimson Flame Ghost Formation.
This cheat field hadn’t vanished yet.
I smirked and aimed my sword at the nearest skeleton soldier.
Four attacks were effortlessly parried with Just Guard.
My turn.
“Corner Slash.”
Slash!
My sword carved through the fiend’s bones, and a red afterimage of magic pierced its torso once more.
[Weak!]
And then.
“Return Light.”
Boom boom boom!
Splash damage from the two attacks devoured the summoned fiends whole.
The explosion’s shockwave reached even Necredin.
[Kieeek?!]
Necredin, calmly chanting from afar, screamed from the unexpected AoE damage.
His cast interrupted as a bonus.
“This is ridiculous.”
I shrugged and looked at Aren, waiting for her next turn.
Aren and the other two just tilted their heads at Necredin’s unexpected vulnerability.
I had nothing much to say either.
“Sister Arisha’s side was a hundred times harder.”
That was it.
⁎⁎⁎
[Kieeek… ack…!]
“What’s with the kieeek?”
The Crimson Flame Ghost Formation’s glow was fading, but it didn’t matter.
Necredin was already a wreck.
No more fiends to protect him, and his patterns matched the original exactly.
The orb barrages of magic were child’s play compared to phase 1’s wraith combos, and the skull-shaped dark fireballs were deflected easily by Aren and me.
The endlessly summoned fiends? Just more trash mobs.
Then Necredin swung his arm again.
His final struggle. A wave of wraiths crashed toward us.
A minor twist with Negarone’s technique, absent from the original—but that was it.
“Logia!”
Logia tanked the wraith wave with her body.
And that was the end.
‘Yes, this feels right.’
This was exactly the difficulty I expected from Necredin, one I thought our trio could handle.
Without phase 1’s bullshit gimmick, we could’ve beaten him without the Crimson Flame Ghost Formation or Aren.
“Aren.”
“Got it!”
While Logia held, Aren slipped in and shattered Necredin’s joints.
Crack!
Finally, Necredin slammed a hand to the ground and dropped to one knee.
Groggy state.
Then, [Attack!] appeared above his head.
A first-time message.
Does this mean a joint attack is possible?
‘Yeah, the finisher has to be this.’
We’d groggied him, and the three-person bond condition was met.
Now was the time to test Harvest’s power.
“Let’s end it.”
At that moment.
Necredin, on his knee, lifted his head.
His hollow eyes scanned us one by one.
An eerie smile.
A chill raced down my spine.
This wasn’t a pattern I knew.
“Everyone fall back! He’s got one more trick!”
Usually, something at this timing would be just one thing.
A desperation pattern.
But it was Mine’s turn now.
Desperation or not, Necredin’s turn wouldn’t come.
“Mine!”
Mine understood and struck the final blow at Necredin.
Boom!
Necredin’s joints, already on his knee, began collapsing on themselves.
Then magic erupted from him.
I braced for the attack, but the magic turned into dozens of black chains lashing everywhere.
Chains whipped wildly across the battlefield.
I tried Just Guard, but they phased through my sword transparently.
Not an attack.
The chains swept around as if searching, then halted abruptly before Mine.
And then.
Clank!
They bound her like a massive serpent.
The moment the chains fully ensnared Mine’s body.
Necredin’s gaunt skull split in half mid-grin, crumbling to ash.
Simultaneously.
Mine’s body went limp in the chains like a puppet with cut strings. Logia, who’d tanked the wraith wave, too.
And before our eyes.
The blinking blue gem above Mine’s head and the red one that had just appeared above Necredin’s vanished together with a spark.
Parzzt.
Silence fell.
The chains clattered to the floor without their master, followed by Mine’s body.
“……Huh?”
A dazed murmur escaped someone.
Maybe even me.
“……Mine?”
Aren rushed to the fallen Mine. Alicia followed, her face pale as a ghost.
They shook her shoulder, but she didn’t stir.
Just stared blankly into nothing with empty eyes.
Alicia, checking Mine’s wrist, froze.
“…No… pulse.”
“What do you mean… H-heal her! Use your heal, Mine…!”
I grabbed Rene without hesitation.
Before the gems above us fully vanished.
Before the dungeon clear popped.
[Unique Ability - Action Rewind 3 / 3]
I used our last chance.
⁎⁎⁎
One final trap remained.
Companion pattern.
Likely a gimmick where the one landing the killing blow mutual-destructs with the boss.
Defeating the boss clears the dungeon.
Someone had to land the final hit.
And at that moment, someone had to die.
The clear succeeds.
That future was set.
But at the cost of one sacrifice.
One of our four had to die no matter what?
That was failure to me.
‘No. There was that.’
The message only I saw when he went groggy.
[Attack!]
I didn’t activate Harvest.
It was Mine’s turn, and he moved suddenly anyway.
What if the joint attack was the answer?
But no chance left to check.
“What’re you doing?”
“Anything else to prepare?”
Aren and Alicia’s current figures overlapped with Aren sobbing and Alicia in despair.
And.
“Um… Halibal. Is there a reason you keep covering my ears…?”
Mine’s cold corpse overlapped with the flustered Mine before me now.
‘Memories I bear alone.’
I had the three wait briefly and racked my brain.
But no answer came.
Until now, I’d pondered clear success.
This time, the clear was guaranteed.
‘Fucking hell.’
Then.
‘If this chance fails and you regress again, relay this message to me.’
Alicia’s words from the previous loop came to mind.
“…Senior. Come here a sec?”
“Me alone? What’s up?”
Alicia had asked me something inexplicable.
To tell her this if we failed.
Chronologically, before revealing secrets to everyone and re-planning strategy.
She must have a reason.
I looked straight into her eyes and whispered exactly what she’d told me.
“…The lights come on.”
Alicia froze in place.
Like a wind-up doll fully wound.
Then she pondered deeply.
Her mind raced visibly, no need to peek inside.
Her sealed lips and trembling lashes proved it.
Breaking the silence.
“…Kuh.”
Her shoulders shook faintly.
“Kuh, hehe… kuhehehehehaha!”
She burst into mad laughter.
‘What? What’s happening?’
I panicked.
Aren and Mine stared, baffled by her sudden behavior.
After laughing long, she slowly raised her head.
The mirth gone, but her eyes burned brighter than ever.
“Halibal.”
“Yes.”
“From now on, call me Alicia instead of senior.”
“……Pardon?”
With those baffling words, she nodded toward the boss room.
[Alicia Cyrus’s Favorability Level has risen.]
[Favorability Level: 5 (Max)]
[Unique Ability Unlock Condition Met]
[Alicia Cyrus Party Member Bonus Officially Activated.]
“Good. Let’s go—for the happy ending.”