The Second Phase
The completed spear thrust skill from the salvation route. Stingray. True to its reputation for exceptional piercing power and eerie speed, Elm 183 shot toward Lady Catel in an instant. But she proved she was no ordinary knight, dodging my thrust with a simple evasive maneuver.
Her soft sword streaked toward my body like a bolt of lightning. Karnadan had all kinds of weapons, and this was one of them—a soft sword. Its blade flowed and rippled like cloth. It was the fastest weapon among all the types that existed in Karnadan. On top of that, the blade was coated with blazing aura. The moment it touched me, I’d turn into Asbel.
The soft sword flew in from an unpredictable angle, but it was easily blocked by the Iron Lion’s Greatsword. The weapon’s flat was a full forty centimeters wide. That broad surface was more than enough to serve as a shield. The soft sword bounced off, unable to pierce the Iron Lion’s Greatsword that deftly parried its nimble attacks.
And in that exact opening, Elm 183 flew in.
Stingray
“Aaaargh!!!”
The Stingray skill activated, driving the blade into an angle so awkward she couldn’t possibly dodge it. It was an angle no ordinary swordsman could ever thrust from. On top of that, because of the soft sword’s nature, there was always a slight delay when retrieving it after an attack was deflected. Lady Catel avoided the perfectly timed strike with her superb reflexes, but she couldn’t prevent the wound that opened on her thigh.
Bewilderment spilled from Lady Catel’s lips. Elm 183 circled her like a living creature, searching for openings. Then it would strike from impossible angles—behind her back, beneath her legs, or above her head—places no normal swordsman could ever reach. She had zero experience fighting my skill. On the other hand, I knew exactly how to counter a soft sword user. This game had PVP elements in addition to PVE, and I had beaten plenty of players as Asbel. I had experience against soft swords, every kind of magic, and all sorts of weapons.
Lady Catel hurled her soft sword with a voice drenched in madness. It looked like it was flying straight at the Iron Lion’s Greatsword, but the power was concentrated in the middle rather than the tip. It was a feint, just as I expected. The moment it struck the greatsword, the soft sword bent gracefully and slipped past, aiming for my unprotected neck. It was a technique only possible with a flexible blade rather than a straight one.
But I had already predicted she would do exactly this.
Mountain Shaker
“Ugh?!”
With a heavy thud, the greatsword slammed into the ground. A tremendous shockwave erupted forward through the earth. The soft sword’s blade was caught in the blast and shoved aside. At the same time, Lady Catel’s stance faltered as the vibration traveling through the ground made her stagger.
And Elm 183 didn’t miss the opening.
Lady Catel tried to dodge in a hurry, but she was a hair too slow. A sword wound was left on her left arm as well. She glared at me with pitch-black sclera and crimson pupils filled with madness.
Of course she hadn’t. Unlike the SSS-rank skills that a few high-level NPCs shared with other playable characters, this was a skill that only Asbel possessed among every character in Karnadan.
When I flicked my finger, Elm 183’s movement changed.
Mana consumption has increased!
I poured mana into Elm 183, dramatically increasing its movement speed. The already threatening blade moved even faster. And in that state—
Stingray
“Khk!”
The moment the skill activated, even Lady Catel had no choice but to focus entirely on defense. The blade flew in at a speed impossible to dodge, so she had to retrieve her soft sword and concentrate on blocking every direction.
Lady Catel, who had been moving with desperate focus, suddenly let out a groan.
Her body must have felt stiff. Her limbs probably wouldn’t move properly.
Lady Catel screamed. She tried to charge at me, but a single horrifyingly fast Stingray from Elm 183 forced her to stop and focus on defense again. Even while concentrating on defense, the paralysis poison was slowing her movements. Little by little, openings appeared. The moment her defense faltered because of the poison, I sent Elm 183 flying with Stingray.
“Khk?”
Stingray pierced through the circular defensive field created by her dancing soft sword and left a wound on her right arm as well. The paralysis poison seeped in through the right arm. The wound on her left arm had only made her sword path slightly awkward, but for her—who held the sword with her right hand—the injury to her right arm was catastrophic. It meant she wouldn’t be able to hold her weapon much longer.
A crude curse unbecoming of a marchioness burst out. As if her rage had passed its limit, she exploded with mana throughout her entire body. It was an act of determination to temporarily suppress the paralysis poison with mana and catch me even if it meant overworking her body. But that was a double-edged sword. The mana consumption was extreme; in exchange for greater destructive power than usual, she would tire out quickly.
This must be Phase 2.
If Phase 1 had been the appearance of an ordinary soft-sword user, what form would this new boss’s Phase 2 take? While I was wondering that, a bizarre black energy suddenly began swirling around Lady Catel’s right arm.
Her eyes were completely dyed black. Her voice had become a twisted, rough growl that no longer sounded human. And the black mana pouring from her right arm was visible to the naked eye. Since the black mana was only emanating from that spot, it was clear that a Fragment of Corruption had been implanted in her right arm.
But something felt off.
She’s releasing an Evil Dragon’s black mana?
This was a pattern different from any Demon I had seen before. The only ones who could emit visible black mana were the Evil Dragons themselves or the four Blood Kings chosen by them. I had never seen a half-Demon who hadn’t even fully awakened yet release something like that.
Lady Catel radiated an overwhelmingly threatening killing intent. Her soft sword began to be dyed with black aura. But instead of being terrified by the sight, I smiled.
A new pattern from a new boss. Ah, this was fun. This was happiness.
While I was smiling, Lady Catel began charging at me, signaling the start of Phase 2. The power of the soft sword wrapped in black aura was brutal. Sword strikes far faster and more powerful than those of an ordinary awakened Demon poured out relentlessly. Elm 183 tried to slip into her blind spots with Stingray, but she—who had suppressed the paralysis poison by exploding her mana and strengthened her physical abilities—easily dodged it.
Not only did she dodge, she counterattacked. The tip of the soft sword, swung like a whip, tore through the air with a deafening crack. It meant the strike had surpassed the speed of sound. Elm 183, struck squarely by the tip, was sent flying with a tremendous bang.
The durability of the contracted divine weapon Elm 183 has been damaged.
A red warning window—the kind I only saw when fighting the four Blood Kings—floated before my eyes. She knocked Elm 183 away and charged at me again, but I had no intention of letting her.
“Aaaargh!!!”
Elm 183, which had been sent flying with tremendous force, suddenly regained its balance and shot forward with Stingray once more. It was a Stingray I had cast by investing roughly a hundred extra mana now that the enemy had grown stronger. Thanks to the dramatically increased speed, it easily broke through Lady Catel’s defense and succeeded in severing the tendon in her right leg.
Her leg limped. Although she had suppressed the paralysis poison by exploding her mana, there was no answer once a tendon was physically severed. Even while limping, she roared in fury and swung her soft sword filled with black aura, completely wrapping and crushing the deeply embedded Elm 183 that had cut her tendon.
With a sickening crunch, the soft sword’s blade completely pulverized Elm 183. Soon after, Elm 183 shattered into pieces and scattered.
The contracted divine weapon has been completely destroyed! The contract has been terminated!
Even though Elm 183 had been destroyed, it was a cheap price to pay compared to completely disabling one of her legs. With her tendon severed, she could no longer move properly. Taking advantage of that opening, I pulled out the second item I had prepared from my bag.
The Ice Crystal. Without hesitation, I threw the container holding it at Lady Catel. There was no way she could fail to intercept the slow-moving container thrown by my pathetic strength.
But the moment her soft sword flew out to cut the container in defense, the ultra-low-temperature liquid inside burst out in all directions. The temperature in the immediate area plummeted instantly. The soft sword that had been whipping around so fluidly in her hand froze solid in an instant.
Mountain Shaker
I poured even more mana into the Iron Lion’s Greatsword and unleashed a far stronger shock. The greatsword slammed down into the ground with a downward strike, and the instant it collided with the earth, a tremendous impact exploded forward like a bomb going off. The frozen soft sword in Lady Catel’s hand shattered into countless pieces from the shock.
If it had been a divine weapon, it might have endured, but unfortunately the soft sword she was using was just an ordinary one carried by the family’s knights. If she had dodged it might have been different, but with her leg tendon severed, she couldn’t avoid it.
“Guhk!”
Lady Catel’s body was struck by the shockwave and sent flying backward, slamming hard into the wall. She must have taken a heavy blow to her internal organs; she coughed up blood.
Don’t worry. I have no intention of killing you.
I immediately hurled the Iron Lion’s Greatsword at her, pinning her body beneath its heavy flat. I approached the marchioness, who was now completely immobilized under the sword, and took out the two remaining items I had prepared in my bag—high-grade holy water and Pelokis’s Tears. Without mercy, I poured both liquids onto her face.
The two extremely expensive liquids soaked into her skin instantly. At the same time, Lady Catel’s convulsions began to subside.
The holy water would heal her injured areas, and Pelokis’s Tears dramatically increased the body’s healing effect. When the two were combined, they had the effect of temporarily suppressing the encroachment of a Fragment of Corruption.
And now, it was my turn.
As I had said, there was only one way to save a half-Demon. Remove the Fragment of Corruption. For ordinary people, that would require complex surgical and magical procedures, but I could remove it in a slightly different way. A Fragment of Corruption was a divine fragment corrupted by the dark mana of the Evil Dragons. In other words, a Fragment of Corruption could also be considered a type of divine weapon.
I placed my hand above Lady Catel’s head.
You have won the battle against the target <Fragment of Corruption>!
A contract with <Fragment of Corruption> is now possible.
Would you like to form a contract?
Of course I would contract it. That was the only way to pull it out.
You have formed a contract with the divine weapon <Fragment of Corruption>!
The moment the contract was completed—
Lady Catel began to scream. Because I had started forcibly pulling the Fragment of Corruption out of her body by controlling it.