Aftermath (1)
Nurgle's merciless assaults poured down on Hans. With the immunity of Body Strong as the Sun and the attack buff of Boiling Blood running through him, Hans held the line.
I had deliberately left his HP and defense alone. Right now, Hans was receiving additional buffs to something closer to endurance—grit, willpower, the sheer refusal to fall.
Between the Rune of Courage and the effects of the Hans and Daisy event, he would never retreat from the battlefield, and even at death's door he would not go down easily.
The way to push every one of those factors to the absolute limit was an attack boost that scaled with missing HP. In other words, Boiling Blood was the core skill of this entire raid.
"Ugh—this is actually driving me insane."
Once the buffs were on, Hans's health bar was hovering so low it barely registered—hanging by a thread. Push any harder and he might actually die.
"Khrrraaagh!!"
"■■■—!!! I hate and despise ■!!"
Whether he had some berserk phase or not, Nurgle was thrashing in a frenzy of pure rage. Before the demon could strike again, I slammed Hans with one last skill.
Unbreakable Strike!
Grants the character the Holy attribute. Inflicts fixed damage proportional to the HP the character has lost.
— Shaaaaa
A blinding effect settled over Hans's blade. This skill—fixed damage scaling with lost HP—had been the most expensive one of all. And for a Hans who refused to fall even at death's door, it was a perfect match.
"■■■■■!!! You dare flaunt that power before me!!"
"Oh..."
Maybe it was the demon setting, but enchanting Hans with the Holy attribute pulled a line out of Nurgle that felt pure event-dialogue. Even a tiny easter egg like that was enough to move a player.
The developers had some real sense.
"Please, please, Hans, please!!"
I had done everything I could. All that was left was to clasp my hands and pray.
"I hate and despise ■!!"
Nurgle's attacks crashed down like a storm. Even through the screen, the force and pressure of them were terrifying. Buffed by the Rune of Courage or not, if Hans took those hits head-on, he wouldn't hold.
My hand was already reaching for the shop again when something changed.
"Huh...?"
He was parrying them.
Dodging. Blocking. Deflecting.
He shattered a flying tail, knocked aside a claw, slipped past writhing fangs.
With a godlike evasion rate, Hans closed the distance step by step.
Goosebumps raced over my skin. How was this even possible? Was it a bug?
"Holy shit!!"
I shouted without thinking. It was the middle of the night, and I did not care.
Hans drew closer. Three steps. Two.
Then he was right in the demon's face.
He raised that brilliantly shining sword—
"Gkhyaaaaaagh!!! Aaaaaaaagh!!!!"
"Niiiiice—!!"
I clenched a fist and yelled before I could stop myself.
All that HP. All of Nurgle's massive health pool. Gone in a single hit.
One strike stacked with every buff, true damage, and missing-HP scaling—and the boss was dead.
Adrenaline surged up from somewhere deep in my chest; the tips of my hair felt like they were standing on end. Sleep was off the table tonight. How was anyone supposed to sleep after a feeling like this?
"Whoa—that was insane. Seriously, what—how does that even work."
Even after the boss-defeat banner appeared, the high wouldn't fade. Muttering to myself the whole way, I pulled a can of beer from the fridge.
My favorite—Hoegaarden. The soft pssst of carbonation escaping, and I drank fast.
"Hoo—"
The cold beer finally took the edge off. The boss-defeat message was up, but the stage-clear banner still hadn't shown.
Because the defense wasn't over yet.
"Ah—the defense!"
I snapped back to myself and flipped the screen. A flicker of panic hit me—what if the base had fallen in the meantime?
Hans had hard-carried the entire fight and soloed the boss. If we lost on defense after that... nothing would feel more unfair.
— Clang! Clack!
"My Lady! They're coming that way again!"
Thankfully, the walls were still holding strong. Dropping Heaven-and-Earth Storm earlier must have done real work—they looked like they could manage.
"Time remaining..."
I checked the clock. It was already creeping toward dawn—the clear condition. At this rate, they might hold without trouble, but...
"Fall back!! Everyone fall back!!"
"Wounded to the rear!! Anyone who can still fight, to the front!! You—come here! Think of your daughter back home!"
"No... I—I can still fight..."
"If I survive this battle, I'm going to propose to her. Back home."
"For the... God!"
The villagers' desperate voices during the defense were almost too real. They sounded like people fighting for their lives on an actual battlefield.
I checked the last remaining defense-only skill. A buff that raised attack and HP for nearby allies.
"Hmm..."
I hesitated. Was it because the villagers' voice acting was that good? Or because I'd been drinking beer at dawn and was a little buzzed?
Listening to those fierce, raw voices left me strangely unsettled.
Maybe I was over-immersing in the game.
They weren't even characters. Just NPCs. Villagers.
Even so—just villagers or not—it didn't sit right with me.
If I was going to play, I might as well play the way I wanted. That was the only way it stayed fun.
"Ah, screw it."
With a whatever-happens-happens shrug, I opened the shop window, dropped the defense-only skill I'd been eyeing into the cart, and paid on the spot.
My phone buzzed immediately.
— Vrrrm!
Card payment of ₩9,900 approved (one-time charge).
Barely ten thousand won. These days, ten thousand won wouldn't even buy you fried chicken.
I decided to treat it as money thrown on the ground.
"I'm such a whale for getting this immersed. What a whale."
Not even a character—just good villager voice acting—and I burned ten thousand won on it? I let out a small, self-mocking sigh and activated the newly purchased defense skill.
Radiant Glorious Cavalry!
Consumes Faith. Summons warriors in proportion to the Faith spent. The warriors will mercilessly trample every enemy in sight. For the enemy, only death remains.
One of the skills my romance radar had locked onto hard. The moment I used it, a prompt asked how much Faith to spend.
Was there even a question?
"Dump it all!!"
"Oh... ohhh..."
The clatter of hooves rang out overhead—dag-dak, dag-dak. Warriors descending slowly from the sky as if walking on air. Radiant light poured from their eyes, and their bearing alone made it clear: these were warriors who had long since surpassed ordinary humans.
"That sound..."
From somewhere, a low, vast horn blast rolled across the field.
War. The horn that announced the beginning of war. As Kenis stood dazed, someone at the head of the warriors slowly rode toward her.
"You—!"
Kenis's mouth fell open. For a moment the light streaming from his eyes kept her from recognizing him.
The righteous man who had hunted more demons than any other in history, who had always stood first in defense of the weak. The legend of the paladin who, at the end, faced three hundred demons alone and met a glorious death. Paladin Usorius.
"Glory to the hero who receives the God's grace."
Usorius bowed his head from horseback. Kenis, overwhelmed and flustered, bent at the waist in return.
"I—it's an honor to meet you!! An honor!!"
She was so excited she even bit her tongue a little. Usorius smiled lightly and drew the banner-spear standing beside Kenis.
"You may leave the rest to us."
"Pardon...?"
Usorius raised the massive golden banner-spear high.
The flag snapped hard in the wind. Mystical light seeped softly from the golden embroidery that covered it.
Ihihiiing—!
Usorius's horse cried out with power. Holding the banner high, Usorius roared.
"Men—! Who are we!!"
"The Glorious Cavalry!!"
"And what stands before us!!"
"Corpses—!!"
"Yes—all I see are corpses!! This is the hour of great war!! And the hour of glorious victory!!"
Usorius's voice shook heaven and earth, rolling out in a thunderous boom. Those of weak spirit nearly fainted on the spot.
"Ride! Ride without restraint—trample them and smash them!! Before the name of God, the wicked and the profane shall vanish as a handful of blood!! We are the God's sword—the agents of divine punishment come down upon the earth!!!"
Usorius swept the banner in a great arc. The air around the warriors surged with it, shimmering as if heat haze, growing hot and fierce.
"Death to them!!!"
"Death!!"
From somewhere again came the low, resonant blast of the war horn.
Kenis knew it instinctively.
This was war. The sound that marked its beginning—and the end of their enemies.
Then Usorius's horse began to move forward.
Slowly. Very slowly.
At first it was almost a walk. Then a little faster. Past a canter, faster still.
Then truly fast—and faster—until they were flying like the wind.
"Before the dawn breaks, annihilate the enemy!!"
Usorius shot forward on the wind, and behind him countless warriors poured out. Each one a hero who had defined an age, a champion, a warrior without equal.
And then they became a single sharp spear, racing on the wind—and crashed into the horde of beasts.
...No. They did not crash.
"Good heavens..."
They trampled. They burst. They pierced and cut down.
Warhorses descended from the sky, muscles like unstoppable stone, crushed the beasts into handfuls of bloody pulp. A mere brush of the warriors' blades split bodies in two and dropped them to the ground.
A one-sided slaughter.
The Glorious Cavalry tore across the black sea of beasts faster than the wind itself. They were a single spear. They ran and ran without pause, shattering everything profane in their path.
When they swept through the horde like a gale, the number of beasts had already been cut to a ruinous fraction. With the ferocity of predators, the cavalry butchered what remained.
Until the darkness withdrew and light returned.
"Offer this glory to God!!"
As the Glorious Cavalry rode back in proud formation, sunlight split the dark behind them. The banner in Usorius's hand had not taken a single drop of blood; it still flew exactly as it had at the start, radiating its full majesty.
"...So—"
"Hm?"
Kenis turned at Friga's mutter. Friga stood with her mouth hanging open, staring blankly at the cavalry.
"So cool..."
The strength had gone out of her eyes; her mouth hung slack. A faint flush even rose in her cheeks. Kenis followed Friga's gaze to its end—and found...
Usorius's horse.
"My Lady?!"