The Nightmare Fiend (2)
It had been a long time since I'd run a boss raid. Last time, the Stage 2 boss had cleared itself without me even noticing, so technically the only one I'd actually beaten was Stage 1… This was only my second boss fight.
The Stage 1 boss, the Frost Dragon, had been a notorious newbie-slayer with its vicious attack patterns, so the Stage 3 boss was bound to be no pushover either.
Before starting the boss fight, I took a moment to check my skills.
I had five skill slots available for the boss battle.
"Hmm— I'll slot in Lightning Strike and Minor Heal…"
I pondered briefly over what to fill the remaining three slots with, then roughly tossed in some skills I hadn't tried before and started the raid.
My paycheck had just come in, so if I needed something, I could always buy it.
! Adventurers who die in a boss battle cannot be revived !
The same warning message I'd seen when fighting the Stage 1 boss appeared.
This wasn't even a roguelike, and yet dying once meant no resurrection. No matter how many times I thought about it, the penalty felt excessive.
— Kihik! Kkeugeheheek!!
A slimy purple monster appeared on screen. Its repulsive appearance made me instinctively grimace. It looked like someone had taken purple clay and mashed people into it, kneading them together. Arms and legs sprouted from all over its torso, thrashing about—a monster so grotesque it defied description.
"Ugh…"
The sheer ugliness of it made me look away for a moment. Did it really have to be that hideous?
Standing resolutely before the grotesque creature were my Hero-rank adventurers. The monster was large enough that they looked small by comparison.
Kenis, Friga, the male character who'd taken the shield, and Emperor Caesar.
And beside them stood villagers with blurred faces.
"Why are there villagers in a boss fight…?"
Nameless villagers with faces smeared into indistinct blurs stood among the adventurers.
Each held a staff or a sword… and that staff looked familiar.
"Isn't that a staff I sold?"
Wasn't that the Morning Star Staff I'd sold to a female villager who'd come through the Dimensional Gate? Why was she in a boss fight?
…Some kind of event appearance?
This was only my second boss fight, so there was no way to know.
For now, I needed to focus on the battle.
— Kiheeeeeeeek!!
The slimy purple clay creature let out a howl, and the Stage 3 boss fight began against the backdrop of a magnificent royal palace.
— Kihehehehehek!! Kihehehehehe!!
The fiend laughed at Caesar with abandon. That a mere fiend could torment a human and take pleasure in it—that it possessed that much intelligence—was not good news. Demonic's brow furrowed.
He had cut down countless fiends and demons, but he had never heard of a fiend that mocked humans. Fiends were characterized by intelligence on the level of beasts, after all.
First priority was calming the thoroughly rattled Caesar.
The soldiers and knights who had heard the Emperor's scream were visibly growing more agitated.
"Your Majesty, compose yourself. That is nothing more than the wicked schemes of an evil fiend. You must not falter!"
"Hnn… Hnnn— This cannot be…"
"Your Majesty! Can you hear me?! The Crown Prince can be restored to his original self!! My own daughter returned to normal!! You must believe!!"
Even Demonic's cry did nothing. Caesar, cold sweat pouring down his face and pupils contracted to pinpricks, showed no sign of calming.
The soldiers' morale was visibly crumbling.
At this rate, even a winnable fight would be lost.
No choice, then…
Demonic let out a heavy sigh and clenched his fist tight.
"Your Majesty, you will want to clench your teeth."
"N-no… Julius…"
Still vacant, Caesar gave no answer.
Demonic drew his tightly balled fist all the way back—
And drove it hard into the Emperor's face.
"Guh?!"
Caesar toppled unceremoniously. The surrounding guard knights sprang forward at once and leveled their blades at Demonic.
"Sir Demonic! What is the meaning of this!"
"How dare you strike His Imperial Majesty!"
The guard knights' faces had gone scarlet with rage. Demonic merely shrugged with an impassive expression.
"On the eve of a battle that will decide the Empire's survival, His Majesty's mind appeared troubled. I simply lightened the load a little."
"What kind of—"
"This insolent—!!"
"…Enough."
From behind them, Caesar staggered to his feet, blood streaming from his nose. He had rolled across the ground after taking the punch, covered in dirt, blood pouring from one nostril.
It was a ridiculous sight—and yet his face looked strangely clear.
"Sir Demonic… what you said earlier. Is it true? Can my son truly be restored?"
Even in his daze, he had heard Demonic's words clearly. Demonic nodded slowly.
"It is true. My own daughter had her body stolen by a demon, yet she returned to her original self."
"How on earth… No. No—you said I must believe, did you not?"
He must believe.
There had been no explanation, yet Caesar understood.
Whom to believe. What to do.
"I must place my faith in the gods and act."
Demonic nodded slowly.
Caesar exhaled a long, heavy sigh.
What was that sigh for? Demonic felt he understood, at least a little, the emotions packed into that weighty breath.
Perhaps powerlessness. Or despair. And a sliver of hope.
"Hey! Ugh! Cut the melodrama and start fighting already!"
— BOOM!
Friga, swinging her massive axe right in front of the fiend, shouted. The purple clay-like creature had already formed a giant arm and was thrashing it about.
An arm as large as its own torso was a weapon in its own right.
"You! Monster bastard!"
Friga dropped flat to dodge the thick arm whipping through the air like a lash, then leapt high.
Two characters glowed on the haft of her axe.
Five more to go…!
Fill all seven characters, and she could land a devastating blow on that fiend. It was the same attack that had dealt a critical strike to the Frost Dragon—it would work. It had to.
"Hah!"
Using the momentum of her leap, she brought the axe down as if to split the fiend's skull.
In Friga's eyes, she saw the fiend's face—its mouth stretched into a wide grin.
Is it… smiling?
A fiend?
An ominous sensation washed over her.
The back of her neck went cold. At the edge of her vision, a purple tentacle shot toward her.
"Ah, sh—"
Suspended in midair, Friga twisted her body with everything she had.
If she couldn't dodge, she at least had to avoid a fatal wound.
— Slash!
"My lady!"
A blade of holy power cleaved through the violet tentacle.
Kenis stood with her holy sword blazing with sacred energy.
"Hup!"
Kenis's timely intervention rendered the fiend's ambush useless.
Friga brought her axe down with all her strength.
With a wet shlick, a thick mass of tentacles was sheared away.
She had aimed for the head, but the fiend had swiftly extruded tentacles to shield itself.
"What the hell…"
Landing on the ground, Friga chewed her lip and fell back.
Moving to Kenis's side, she quickly scanned the formation.
Soldiers gripping shields. Knights with swords drawn, waiting for orders.
Their faces were dark. Shields trembled. Hands on sword hilts clenched and loosened, over and over.
Noticing Friga's gaze, Kenis whispered.
"…That fiend is made of the cursed patients as its hosts. Their families are among those men, no doubt."
"Tch. What a mess."
If it were an ordinary fiend, they could just smash it without thinking. But the fact that the thing was made of people was the real problem.
If they killed the fiend, would the patients return?
Or would the patients die with it?
If they came back unharmed, fine.
But if they died?
The soldiers could not gamble their own families on such slim odds.
And on top of everything, even the Crown Prince had become one of the fiend's hosts.
"There's no guarantee they'll come back even if we defeat it…"
Ruel said, her expression sorrowful.
The soldiers grew more restless by the moment, their morale sinking into the dirt.
"Hey, isn't this when the Emperor is supposed to step up? What the hell is he doing?"
Friga grumbled, looking back. Demonic had clearly heard her shout—so why was there still no action?
Stretching her neck to peer toward the Emperor, Friga's eyes went wide.
"Huh…?"
A massive pillar of light was descending from the sky.
And its destination was… aimed precisely at the Emperor.
— Kigihieeeek!!
The Stage 3 boss raid began with a bone-chilling howl. The fiend writhed, extruding a thick arm from its torso, and launched its attack.
— CRASH!
Friga charged forward, weaving around the fiend's arm and swinging her axe into it.
Every time the Dragon Hunter's Axe struck the fiend, a stack lit up on the weapon.
"Nice. Five more hits and…"
I still wasn't using skills. There was definitely going to be a Phase 2 this time too.
Last time I'd mindlessly spammed skills and nearly wiped in Phase 2…
This time I planned to stay calm, conserve my skills, and deploy them at the right moments.
"…Why isn't the Emperor moving?"
Even Iscal was diligently whacking the boss with his shield, but the Emperor just stood there staring into space.
"Don't tell me it's a bug?"
Bugs in a boss fight were the last thing I needed…
I was watching the Emperor when, out of nowhere, he got stunned all by himself.
He stood there blankly, then tumbled to the ground and entered a stun state.
I knew that feeling.
"Ah, damn. It's a bug."
Looks like I'd have to burn one of the skills I'd been saving on the Emperor.