The Plague Demon King, Laplace
"Be careful. You never know what might come flying from where or when."
The moment Laplace finished his self-introduction, a poisonous fog of mixed green and purple began to spread from his body, slowly swallowing our surroundings. It wasn't harming us yet, but the sight alone was enough to make one's skin crawl.
"...This is truly unpleasant."
Chloe must have felt the same, grumbling as she stared at the fog now blanketing everything. I'd seen it countless times in the game, but this ominous mist still refused to feel familiar.
-Crack!
After crushing a few blood packs in my hand, I shaped the blood into a long spear that fit perfectly in my grip. Thanks to several days of one-on-one lessons from the Blood Demon and having watched the movements countless times during gameplay, I could at least swing it decently.
'...Though this is my first time in actual combat.'
Since I knew Laplace's patterns and behavior, maybe just deflecting his attacks would be enough?
-Whoosh!
With that thought, I swung the spear toward the edge of Laplace's cloak, barely visible through the fog. Normally, it would have been impossible to track something so faint, but I'd already calculated his movements and was watching intently. This rat-like bastard was circling, looking for an opening to thrust with his rapier.
While the rapier's reach was long, it was nothing compared to the several-meter-long spear I now held.
"Shall we begin, Your Highness the Princess?"
-Bang!
Chloe began firing her gun through the fog that had spread like a smokescreen, just as planned. Though her position had shifted slightly from the original spot, it wasn't a bad location. The noise amplifier attached to the muzzle made the already loud gunshot even louder.
-Boom!
She even tossed grenades here and there, flaunting her presence. Helping her out, I threw blood packs into every corner of the area.
"This is inconvenient when you can't see..."
Chloe muttered while rummaging through her pockets for a new magazine, apparently having run out of bullets. According to Laplace's attack patterns, around now...
"Watch out!"
-Clang!
I threw a blood pack toward Chloe to form a shield and blocked a hidden weapon flying straight for her heart. It seemed the probing phase was over on their side too. Seeing bullets flying from various directions, they must have decided that throwing hidden weapons while hidden in the fog was too risky.
Good. Everything was going according to plan.
"Chloe, you remember, right? We're taking it slow!"
After deflecting a few more incoming projectiles, I slipped into the fog and hid. The strategy we'd devised before facing Laplace was simple—the same unconventional but effective tactic we'd used in Starlight when two players, including Chloe, had taken him down.
Using the range outside the poison fog.
"...You be careful too."
Chloe, who had been firing her pistol into the fog while standing back-to-back with me, began carefully stepping toward the edge of the mist.
"...Phew! Alright, shall we do this?"
To prevent Laplace from interfering with Chloe's exit, I'd already scattered several blood packs along likely paths he might take.
-Crunch!
Whenever I heard even the slightest sound, I detonated the blood packs like grenades, gradually narrowing Laplace's attack routes. From his movements, it seemed he hadn't yet noticed Chloe's absence.
'This is basically a game of tag, isn't it?'
From now on, my job was to draw aggro by running around every corner of this poison fog, ensuring Chloe could safely escape the mist. Thanks to the massive noise Chloe had made and the glimpses he'd caught of us, he probably assumed there were still two of us. Our plan was to exploit that assumption.
-Ping!
After pulling the pin on a grenade, I hurled it with all my strength in the opposite direction from where I stood. As the explosion echoed, I kept making steady footsteps on my side.
-Boom!
Right on cue, Chloe threw her own grenade, and loud blasts erupted from various spots in the fog. We wouldn't accidentally hit each other with grenades—that would be catastrophic in real combat. We'd practiced this strategy hundreds of times over several days to synchronize perfectly. This was a plan we could execute even with our eyes closed.
"So, what we're doing now is to confuse Laplace's perception of our positions, right?"
Yeah, the Blood Demon was exactly right. All this chaos we were causing was to prevent Laplace from accurately pinpointing our locations and counting our numbers. By continuously making noise with Chloe's bombs, we were also imprinting the information that we were here into his mind.
"That's why I'm the one holding Chloe's bombs."
Laplace wasn't an idiot. During the probing phase, he would have figured out that I was using my spear to intercept his hidden weapons and rapier while Chloe was throwing bombs and shooting to keep him in check. With the intense gunshots amplified by the noise enhancer, he must have already known our positions well.
"What Chloe is trying to do now is snipe him."
It was a strategy that could be called a gamble. Chloe would exit the poison fog's range, take up a sniper rifle, and shoot Laplace inside the fog. How could she snipe when she couldn't see inside the fog?
"Because Chloe had something like this...!"
A flare gun that fired illumination rounds. When I shot it into the sky, Chloe would snipe beneath the flare. What if Chloe accidentally hit me? Just like with the grenades, we'd long since overcome that through practice. We hadn't spent three days just playing around. Besides, this was a strategy that had been possible even in the game—I wasn't attempting it for no reason.
"She must have already made it outside and taken position by now."
Even as I explained to the Blood Demon, I continued deflecting hidden weapons aimed at various parts of my body while circling the edge of the poison fog. I kept detonating blood packs like grenades and scattering real grenades as well.
-Whoosh!
This time, probably aiming for my thigh.
"Whoa!"
Thrusts came in sequence toward my thigh, shoulder, head, heart, and ankle. Of course, since I knew the pattern, I dodged by bending my body. Even I had to admit that was a clean evasion. Adding a taunt here would make it perfect...
I'd seen a collection of lines for getting under opponents' skin while gaming before. What would work well here...?
Ah, this one.
"I can predict all of it~"
-Grind!
At that moment, I heard the sound of grinding teeth coming from within the fog. Wow, that was loud. I hoped his molars were okay. He must be incredibly frustrated after missing every attack.
Serves you right. You should've done better.
-Crack!
I threw three or four blood packs in the direction of the sound and detonated them all at once.
"Graaah! You bastard!"
For the first time, a violent reaction mixed with curses burst out.
Yeah! This is why I play games!
"Head, then downward slash, immediately twist and upward thrust, followed by a downward strike. Isn't that too predictable?"
After reciting every attack route and method he was thinking of, he snapped back.
"You crazy bastard! Do you have mind-reading powers or something?!"
This was too fun. Even after that, he tried mixing in trajectory changes and feints, pulling out several patterns that were considered newbie hell sections in Starlight, but...
"This is kindergarten level. You'd probably lose pathetically even to our young lady."
Honestly, it was much easier to dodge than I'd expected. Maybe it was because my body followed my thoughts so well?
"This bastard...!"
The polite speech and cautious demeanor he'd shown at first had vanished completely. Now consumed by emotion, Laplace began pouring out attacks. He seemed to have even forgotten that Chloe had been with me, charging forward with wild eyes. This was exactly why Laplace was considered the easiest Demon King in Starlight. A single taunt trait made him ridiculously easy to manipulate.
-Slash!
I swung the spear I'd been using only for defense or parrying in a diagonal arc to the right, cutting into Laplace's body as he charged recklessly. It was time to start restraining him. I was getting exhausted from all the dodging too...
This should be enough.
-Fwoooosh!
I fired the flare into the sky.
-Bang!
Immediately, a bullet from the young lady pierced through one of Laplace's legs.
"Graaah! What kind of trick are you pulling?!"
At the same time, I drove the long spear I was holding into his stomach. Then, detonating two more blood packs, I created several short throwing spears, kicked off the ground to gain distance, and spoke.
Come to think of it, there was one taunt trait that worked incredibly well on this guy. It was a skill that Gaia Rebate, the wandering merchant character, used while perking up her ears every time.
What was it called again? Ah, right.
"Scru~b!"
⟨ Mesugaki ⟩
"You insane bastard!"
Laplace charged forward mindlessly, regardless of the spear still embedded in his body. Oh, that's hell ahead of you.
-Boom!
-Bang!
The sound of the flare gun firing, the blood pack mines I'd set up in advance, and the young lady's sniper rifle. Savoring all the noise reaching my ears, I gathered every remaining blood pack and short spear I had and threw them all at him.
It was an attack that gathered every bit of household item imaginable and hurled it.
"Kuh... Uuuuurgh..."
Though it lacked any sense of style, it was incredibly effective. Laplace lay sprawled on the ground in a truly miserable state. Like a hedgehog, four short spears were stuck in his body, along with one long spear. There were three holes from the sniper rifle, plus traces of being pierced and scorched by blood pack grenades and mines.
"Looking good, aren't you?"
I kicked Laplace's face hard, then dragged his unconscious body out of the poison fog, where I met Chloe running toward me.
"Seb! Are you hurt anywhere?"
The moment she saw me emerge from the fog, Chloe rushed over and checked every inch of my body. Her worried gaze made me glance over myself as well, but thanks to the ridiculously easy no-hit clear, I didn't have a single injury.
"You really worked hard. That young lady will definitely be happy too."
Ah, right. I needed to find the elixir. I'd forgotten while focusing on the fight.
"Haha... I suppose so?"
Just as I was about to discard the suit I'd been wearing while wandering through the fog and search Laplace's body, I heard sobbing from beyond.
...Sobbing?
Startled, I quickly turned around. There stood Chloe with a flustered expression, and the young lady staring at us with teary, glistening eyes that looked ready to spill over at any moment.
Wait, why are you here?!