185. Counterstrike (1)
185. Counterstrike (1)
Squirm—
Squirm—
"......Disgusting."
Ichika murmured quietly, watching Suzuki Satoru enter his second phase.
She was right. The thing's appearance was pure grotesquerie.
Every hair on its body had melted away, leaving a bloated mass of smooth, swollen flesh.
Dozens of mouths gaped open with a gristly sound, tongues dripping stringy saliva.
An acrid stench assaulted the nose.
And eight writhing red scythes, veins pulsing grotesquely, sprouted from its back like spider legs.
Nothing humanlike remained to be found anywhere.
"......Ichikaaaaa......."
"......Ichiiikaaaa......."
"I......chi......ka......."
The only things that told you this was Suzuki Satoru were the disturbingly clear eyeballs that rolled and rolled across the undulating flesh before stopping when they found Ichika, and his name pouring from dozens of mouths.
The horror wasn't just the creature's appearance.
Even I, whose mental fortitude exceeded that of most characters, found myself thinking for a split second that this form was "appealing."
'So this is the Apostle of Incubus with the Power of Enchantment.......'
In the game, party members would sometimes side with him and attack the team during the boss fight.
This had to be the reason why.
'......If I don't keep my head screwed on straight, I'll be in danger too.'
Pulling my focus taut, I glanced at Ichika with fresh eyes.
Because it was no small thing to look at that form and immediately deem it revolting.
'......Not bad.'
Even dead weight is better when it stays still than when it's actively getting in your way.
I could stop worrying that Ichika would get bewitched by him and do something stupid.
"......Iiiichiiikaaa....... Ichiiikaaa──!!!!"
Soon enough, his transformation fully complete, Suzuki Satoru screamed Ichika's name and swung the undulating scythes.
The great scythes stretched long, then vanished in an instant.
SHRIIIIK—!!!
With a sharp shriek that rent the air, sword qi came flying.
And that sword qi split apart, densely embroidering the empty space.
The method was clearly the same as the attack I'd faced moments earlier, but the caliber was entirely different.
Every incoming blade of sword qi carried the weighty presence of something real.
I sharpened the blade of my awareness and locked my gaze onto the cluster of sword qi.
"Right. Vertical."
'Right....... What?'
Swish!
Even as I threw my body sideways, I couldn't keep the surprise off my face.
Because Ichika had spoken from behind me before I'd even registered anything off.
BOOOOOM!!!!
A colossal boom erupted where I'd evaded, blasting a terrifyingly deep crater.
"Above. Horizontal."
Swish!
Following Ichika's flat voice again, I ducked low.
'......What the hell, she's pretty useful?'
I'd figured Ichika was nothing but dead weight with her HP so low, but she was putting in unexpected work.
I upgraded my assessment of her by one tier.
'That changes things.'
If she could pick out the real attacks for me, I didn't have to split my focus watching for them. I could pour everything into attacking.
Slide—
Ducking low, I planted my foot heavily and channeled Mana into it.
Dark Shadow Step.
Dash!
My body shot unhesitatingly into the raging storm of sword qi.
"Left. Diagonal."
"Below. Horizontal."
"L. Ve."
"R. Di."
"Ab. Ho."
Like playing a rhythm game, I weaved through the real sword qi hidden among the illusions and succeeded in closing the distance.
And then.
Seureung─
Hwirik!
Hwirik!
Hwirik!
Hwirik!
Hwiririk─!
My wrist rolled fluidly as I swung the blade.
Skill, Sword Dance.
Like a fast-tempo dance, the soft blade carved over the creature's body.
SPLURT—!!
A beat late, fountains of blood erupted from the creature's flesh.
"Graaaaaaaaagh─!!!! Ichikaaaaaaa!!!!"
"Back up."
The frenzied thing twisted its massive body into a knot.
CRUNCH!
CRRRUNCH!
It used the recoil to sweep the entire area, but I'd already pulled out of range.
Shnk!
Shnk!
SPLURT—!
And several more times in the same fashion, I dealt damage to the thing.
"Ichikaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!"
But naturally, nothing was ever that easy.
If it could've been wrapped up this neatly, I wouldn't have needed to wait for my party members in the first place.
CRACK—
CRACK—
The thing I'd been unilaterally beating down.
The scythes sprouting from its back began to bifurcate and merge into two clusters.
Then a membrane, like a bat's wing, stretched between the scythes.
Broad wings wrapped around its body.
That's right.
Jukai Forest. The boss Suzuki Satoru's true strength was in aerial combat.
FLAP—
FLAP—
As the massive wings languidly beat, the heavy mass rose into the sky, sagging under gravity.
And then the two clear eyes, suspended in midair, fixed on me.
Next, the wings folded once and snapped back open.
"SKREEEEE!"
"SKREEEEE!!"
"SKREEEEEE!!!"
The dozens of mouths dotting its body gaped wide and hurtled toward me with skin-crawling shrieks.
These weren't illusions.
Every one was a real attack.
Ichika must have noticed too, because she said nothing at all.
I hardened my expression, tracking the trajectories of the onrushing mouths.
'......Dodging all of these is gonna be rough.'
In the end, I made my decision and was rallying Mana through my whole body, bracing to weather the attack with minimal damage—when.
Freeze.
One of the mouths froze midair for an instant, then twisted its trajectory and came for me.
And my hyper-focused awareness did not miss that split second.
Dash!
BOOOOOOM!!!!
As I crammed my body through the gap, I kept thinking.
'......What the hell, why'd it stop just now? Why'd it twist its path? That was a perfect shot to hit my blind spot.'
Worse, that warped attack had been aimed at a point I'd already accepted I couldn't shield.
Namely, a strike aimed for my back.
I'd been planning to spin and sacrifice my left arm to protect Ichika there.
But because the thing had veered its attack off-course, I'd slipped out without sacrificing anything.
'......Ichika? This bastard Satoru....... Don't tell me......?'
A strange light flickered in my eyes.
'It's a guy?'
I twisted a smirk onto my lips and spoke over my shoulder.
"Ichika."
"Mm."
When I called her name, she tilted her dazed face, as if to ask why.
"You can't get away from me right now, right? As long as we're in contact, that's all that matters?"
"Mm, probably. And it's just a feeling, but....... When we stick together like this, my HP seems to recover too."
'That so.......'
I had no idea why I'd turned into her personal charger. But.
If that was the case, all the better.
"Then, I'm sorry, but could you get off my back and hold my hand?"
"......Mm. Hand?"
"Yes."
"Hands are....... I think that's a little too early."
Ichika shyly turned her head aside.
......Says the woman who'd been busy groping my chest when we were fighting like hell just earlier. Unbelievable.
I looked at her with my most thoroughly unimpressed stare.
'Eh, explaining is a pain, I'll just apologize later. Even if I'm wrong, I can pull her out without leaving a scratch.'
Grab.
As I set her down on the ground, I promptly seized her arm in a firm grip.
And then—whoosh!
"Ah."
Still holding Ichika's arm, I swung her.
Toward the next wave of incoming enemy attacks.
And then.
Just as expected.
Freeze—
The mouth stopped short in midair, never completing its trajectory.
"Knew it."
My lips twisted as I nodded.
"......."
Ichika, who had at some point adjusted her position and was now wrapped around my arm like a cat with her legs locked, gazed up at me.
Stare—
Why.
What.
That thing awakened because of you.
So you take responsibility.
You got a problem with that?
*
And so, with Ichika equipped as my shield, I resumed the fight—but it still wasn't easy.
The original-game version of this guy being no pushover played a part.
But the biggest problem was that reality wasn't the game.
In the game, the enemy and your character basically had to be on one screen together.
So even flying enemies never went too high.
But this thing, once I started aggressively using Ichika to close in on it.
It'd widen the gap entirely, flying up beyond the reach of my blade and launching one-sided attacks from range.
Of course, thanks to Ichika-shield, I hadn't taken any lethal damage.......
But if it kept going this way, I was bound to end up at a disadvantage.
'......I can't do this alone.'
Maybe, if I had Im Ga-eul's Acceleration buff and Kang Do-hee launched me up there. But maybe.
Fighting this thing without them was like
a soldier trying to fight a fighter jet with a single sword.
'Do I just have to stall and wait for the party members now.'
That was the moment.
"Step on the spirit."
Ichika, who'd been silently watching me, opened her mouth.
"......What? Huh?"
"My spirits can become your feet."
"!"
My eyes went round at her words.
'Now that I think about it. This woman's ability temporarily materializes shadows to attack with, right?'
Thinking back, the movements of the spirits Ichika controlled were incredibly fast and free.
Meaning, they had no movement restrictions—ground or air.
What would happen if you temporarily materialized a spirit like that in midair?
'......They can be used as footholds?'
Ha.
An application so absurd I couldn't help the dry laugh that escaped me.
If this worked, it would massively expand the attack radius of the Utopia Party.
But it was also clear that it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded.
Because it meant Ichika would have to account for my movement speed, predict where I'd move next, and set up the footholds in advance.
Entrusting my body to her when we'd never synced up like this before?
"Honestly, this sounds completely insane......."
But even as I said it, my voice carried a hint of exhilaration.
"Let's do it. Right now."