Just Calm Down (1)
The Lucky Cow King. The moment I saw that name, a sharp warning light flashed in my mind.
"...We must not kill that thing."
Adelaide flinched violently at my solemn words. She quickly asked back, looking utterly bewildered. "K-Kill it? What do you mean we can't kill it? Where is this coming from?"
"The moment we kill that guy, the sweet honey flowing from this dungeon will dry up in an instant," I replied flatly, keeping my eyes locked on the boss.
It was still just a theory, but it never hurt to be careful. I had already scraped this dungeon clean of everything it had to offer. Still, you never knew what the future held. If I ever needed this dungeon again down the line, there was no reason to waste a perfectly good resource.
"Let's go back. This isn't where we should be."
"No, you have to give me a proper explanation! Just telling me to go back out of the blue..."
Ignoring the bewildered Adelaide, I turned around to push open the heavy boss room doors that had shut behind us at some point.
"..."
"..."
For some reason, the doors didn't budge. No matter how much strength I put into pushing them, they remained as motionless as a massive boulder.
"...What's wrong? Are they not opening?"
"Yes. They won't open. It seems they won't budge until we defeat the boss."
Hearing Adelaide's anxious voice whispering in my ear, I gently took my hands off the door and replied calmly, "We're trapped."
The moment the words left my mouth, the color drained completely from Adelaide's face. "T-Trapped...?"
"Yes. These doors will never open until the boss is dead."
What a massive pain. To think the boss of this dungeon would be the Lucky Cow King. If we killed him, we'd never be able to enter this dungeon again...
"Y-You're joking, right...?"
"I don't joke about things like this."
I stared blankly at the firmly shut doors as I spoke. Various thoughts began to tangle in my head, but I couldn't just stand here doing nothing.
Defeating the boss would collapse the dungeon. But if we didn't defeat it, we couldn't leave the boss room. It was a truly vicious system constraint that forced a boss subjugation. It wasn't a welcome mechanic, but what could I do? It was already spilled milk.
"Let's just kill it quickly and get out."
"Kill it quickly and get out? Are you really that confident?"
"Of course. If my theory is correct, that guy is just pure muscle with no real attack patterns to speak of."
I replied calmly, taking a short breath. "Even if you walk into a tiger's den, you'll survive as long as you keep your wits about you. So don't panic."
I naturally drew the greatsword strapped to my back and took a bold step toward the Lucky Cow King, who stood towering before an abnormally large throne.
"...Your courage is truly remarkable. So, what should I do here?"
Perhaps finally calming down, Adelaide's face, which had been as pale as a corpse, slowly began to regain some color.
"Just in case, keep a close eye on its movements while I draw its aggro from the front."
"Is that all I have to do?"
"Yes. I'll handle the rest."
Adelaide's combat capability was practically zero. She had been a slave until just a few hours ago, and even before that, she was a ducal lady, not an adventurer. There was no way she'd be of any help following me into battle.
"Just doing that is more than enough to pull your weight."
"P-Pull my weight..."
"If you're ready, let's get started. We don't have time to dawdle."
With that brief explanation out of the way, I marched straight toward the front of the Lucky Cow King without hesitation.
"L-Leave this side to me...!" Adelaide's trembling voice echoed from behind.
As if reacting to her quiet voice, the Lucky Cow King guarding the throne began to move, exuding a heavy, oppressive aura.
Clank, clank...
The rusted armor ground together, incessantly emitting an unpleasant screech. The discordance blended strangely with the heavy air, tightening the ominous tension that stretched between me and the Lucky Cow King.
Clank, clank...
At that touch-and-go moment, the Lucky Cow King slammed the massive halberd in its hand onto the floor.
The impact instantly cracked the boss room floor like a spiderweb, and the red glow in the Lucky Cow King's eyes flared even more fiercely beneath its shadowed face.
"Mooooo—!!"
A bizarre roar erupted next. A massive gust of wind pressure instantly engulfed the entire boss room.
With a sharp kick off the ground, I instinctively adjusted my grip on the greatsword, lowered my stance, and lunged straight at the beast without hesitation.
The boss battle had finally begun. Showing agility that defied its massive size, the beast swung its halberd in a wide horizontal arc.
The moment the halberd came crashing down heavily toward my head, I immediately angled my greatsword to parry the blow head-on.
And so began a brute-force struggle with the Lucky Cow King. Faint sparks crackled between the clashing weapons, and the screech of grinding metal echoed in all directions, completely tearing the silence of the boss room to shreds.
The weight of the halberd pressing down on me was beyond imagination. My arm muscles began to scream. Unable to withstand the load, the floor tiles beneath my boots cracked and splintered with a sharp groan.
I had intentionally taken the attack head-on to gauge its strength, but I never expected it to possess such ferocious power...
"A-Are you okay?!" Adelaide's urgent cry rang out from behind as I continued the pointless struggle of strength with the beast.
"I can manage."
"Manage?! That's way too reckless!"
"I'm fine, so just keep watching its movements from there."
"B-But..."
"I'm a tank. I can easily take an attack of this level."
With those calm words, I slightly tilted my greatsword to the side, naturally deflecting the blade of its halberd.
Thud!
The moment its halberd sliced through empty air and slammed helplessly into the floor, I didn't miss the opening. I swung my crude greatsword in a massive vertical slash toward its chest.
Clang!
Despite being bare-chested without any armor, its chest was incredibly hard, as if clad in iron plates. My crude greatsword scraped harshly across it, scattering sharp, spark-filled metallic screeches in all directions.
"...!"
A recoil strong enough to numb my wrists surged back instantly, but I didn't care. I lunged even deeper into the beast's personal space.
A true tank never backs down, even when their life hangs in the balance. Taking the fierce wind pressure generated by its massive frame head-on, I gripped my greatsword once more and slowly assumed a stance for the next strike.
Right then—
"U-Excuse me..."
Just as my body was warming up and getting into the perfect flow of battle, Adelaide's voice suddenly drifted from behind, completely breaking my rhythm.
"I think it's already over...?"
"What do you mean by that? We've only just begun."
"The dungeon boss isn't moving. Not even a twitch."
Adelaide spoke in a dazed voice, slowly pointing her index finger toward the Lucky Cow King. "Look. It's just frozen there, with its halberd stuck in the floor."
Hearing her quiet words, I finally relaxed my tensed body and raised my head to inspect the beast's condition.
"..."
It was exactly as she said. Like a massive stone statue, the Lucky Cow King stood frozen before me, its body slumped without the slightest movement.
The red glow that had terrified the entire boss room just moments ago had vanished without a trace, and the murderous intent radiating from its body had disappeared as if it were all a lie.
"...It's dead?"
Even though I was seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe it. What on earth happened? My attack just now had clearly only grazed its tough hide—a strike far too weak to be considered a decisive blow. Why did it die so anticlimactically? Was it a tutorial boss or something?
"I mean, just how strong are you to kill the dungeon boss in a single blow..."
"Something is wrong. There's no way a Level 35 boss would die so easily."
"But anyone can see that it's completely stopped breathing..."
The moment Adelaide finished speaking, I turned my head back to examine the beast's chest in detail.
"..."
The spot where my greatsword had just scraped across. A spot that should have been completely unscathed, blocked by its tough hide. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, dark red blood was pouring from the beast's chest like a waterfall.
Its chest was torn apart so violently that it was unrecognizable, and its upper and lower body were barely holding together, looking as if they might separate at any moment.
"How did this..."
As I stood there dazed, slowly blinking my eyes in disbelief, a screen popped up.
★ BOSS CLEARED ★
Rewards will be distributed shortly.
Returning to town in 10 seconds.
"...Return?"