Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Human Butcher's Final Struggle
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Including the charge pattern that was always used on the first encounter, the remaining four patterns would alternate during the boss fight, and the very last one was about to begin right now.
This was the so-called "final struggle," triggered the moment the Human Butcher's health dropped below 10%. Once you saw this pattern, it was basically as good as cleared.
It gathered the blood from its own body to create bombs and hurled them at the player. Just dodging them was enough to whittle down its health naturally. All the way until its health hit exactly 10,000.
Once its health reached 1, it would collapse from exhaustion on its own, and you could end the Human Butcher boss fight with a simple poke from bare hands or whatever, as you approached.
Of course, as the phrase "basically" implied, letting your guard down until the very end was absolutely forbidden.
In vanilla, you could just roll around a few times and be done with it, but in Brutal mod, it was a pattern where you had to desperately dodge and run for your life until the very last shot.
—Kraaaaaaaaah!!!!!!
The monster let out a long, guttural roar and flung its blunt weapon to the ground. Then it stomped to the center of the clearing, breathing heavily, and raised its claws to tear viciously at its own body.
Black blood oozed from the wounds ripped open by its claws. Another roar erupted, and the spilled droplets of blood began to clump together near it into masses the size of human heads.
In vanilla, you only needed to dodge about 9 to 10 shots, but in Darkest Light mod, you had to evade nearly 49 to 50. And getting hit by even one meant instant death, of course.
On top of that, you couldn't dodge them with a roll. You'd get smashed by an incoming bomb during that brief recovery after one roll, while preparing the next, and drop dead.
After confirming that the blood droplets had merged into human skull shapes, I backed up to the wall of the clearing. Sticking right to the wall and circling counterclockwise was the surefire way to counter it.
The Human Butcher looked to the sky and wailed. The round blood bombs, shaped like human skulls, launched toward me on that roar as the signal.
'Counterclockwise.'
They fired starting from the bombs to the Human Butcher's right—which was my left—so circling counterclockwise was the way to maximize the distance before impact, no question.
You could dodge clockwise too, but the blast radius was just a tiny bit shorter than when circling counterclockwise, so sometimes you'd get unlucky and eat a hit.
I had no intention of risking that.
Blood bombs slammed into the ground behind me with dull thuds, unleashing massive acidic explosions. Black liquid splashed everywhere, melting the walls and floor. I could easily imagine the devastation behind me.
I'd nearly completed a full lap around the clearing when I noticed the silence at my back and stopped. The Human Butcher had used up all its strength and slumped in place, heaving ragged breaths.
I approached slowly, without dropping my guard. That was why I'd said 9 or 10 shots, or 49 or 50.
Even in this slumped state, it would sometimes unleash one final blood bomb as its true last gasp. If it did, that made it 10 or 50; if not, 9 or 49.
And as I'd feared, a spherical mass shaped like a human skull reappeared above its head.
'See? Better safe than sorry.'
I eyed the incoming direction and prepared to roll the opposite way. One shot like that was definitely dodgeable with a roll.
But the direction of the final bomb wasn't toward me.
The blood bomb shot straight up into the sky, flew to the topmost floor of the prison, and detonated there with a massive boom. Half of the top floor blew away in the explosion.
Having expended its final struggle, the Human Butcher collapsed fully exhausted, panting heavily on the ground. Now I just had to approach and give it a poke with my bare hand or whatever to end the boss fight.
"......What?"
But right now, I didn't have the headspace for that. I sat there dumbfounded, alternating my gaze between the slumped Human Butcher and the half-destroyed top floor of the prison.
This had never happened in the game. Not even once.
As I froze in shock at the unexpected event unfolding before my eyes, a knight in armor leaped down through the dust cloud from the prison's top floor.
With only a light clink of metal, the knight landed gracefully in the clearing, rising with incredibly light movements.
The silver armor, which should have gleamed brilliantly, was splattered with black blood, smoking and melting away. It was heavily corroded in places, having lost almost all function as armor.
Judging by the blood-soaked state, it had taken a direct hit from a blood bomb, but since all its limbs were still intact, the armor had fulfilled its duty before giving out.
I recognized the armor from memory, but its appearance was somewhat different. As I tilted my head in confusion at the unfamiliarity, the knight walked toward me and muttered to themselves.
"I never expected its final attack to come this way. My mistake."
A neutral voice emerged from the heavily rusted and filthy silver helmet. The armor was different from what I remembered, and so was the voice.
Something was off. Very off.
"Did you take it down all by yourself?"
Hearing the exact same question as in the game snapped me back to reality. In the game, you'd get dialogue choices like "Yes" or "No," but here I had to answer with my own words.
"Yes."
"......Impressive."
The knight examined the slumped, exhausted Human Butcher from various angles, then turned back to me.
"It seems to still be alive. Aren't you going to finish it off? Since you defeated it, the killing blow is yours, I suppose."
"Ah, yes. I will."
I picked up the sword I'd thrown to the ground. The monster showed no reaction even as I approached right in front of it. The knight stepped back a few paces and gave a light nod.
I plunged it into its gut. The blade sank in easily. The Human Butcher let out a dying roar from the final blow, then toppled diagonally.
In the game, enemy corpses vanished automatically upon death, dropping items, so I stared piercingly at its body, wondering how it worked here.
Bubbling and smoking, the area around the Human Butcher's head began to melt. Gooey flesh and black blood oozed out from under the corpse.
In the spot where the flesh had melted into a gaping hole, something shiny gleamed.
'So that's how it works.'
I tossed aside the now-useless steel sword and carefully gripped the shiny object, avoiding the flesh as much as possible, then yanked hard. It came out surprisingly easily.
In my hand was a sword with a menacing red blade. Seeing its familiar form, I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
'One worry down.'
This was the weapon I absolutely needed. I'd been anxious about whether it would drop, but it was needless concern.
The reason this "Bloodstained Sword" was called an early-game cheat key was simple.
Despite being obtainable in the ultra-early tutorial area, its damage held up against weapons from mid-game without shame.
As a trade-off, its stat scaling and upgrade potential were lacking, so its efficiency dropped over time—but that very trait made it even more renowned as an early-game cheat.
Early on, you couldn't properly upgrade anyway, and character stats were rock-bottom, so raw damage and base stats were far more advantageous—several times over.
You could cover your attack power with this one weapon and redirect strength investment into other key stats. That alone drastically improved early build stability.
Of course, stability only mattered in vanilla; in Darkest Light mod, where even trash mobs could one-shot you, it was a different story.
As I turned back to the silver-armored knight who had watched the whole process while holding the Bloodstained Sword, the neutral voice emanated from the helmet again.
"That weapon—?"
Before the knight could finish speaking, a loud crack split the precariously holding helmet with a massive fissure. It seemed the helmet had done its job saving the wearer's life and reached the end of its lifespan.
This NPC's armor breaking wasn't in the game, but it didn't matter. If I nitpicked that, I'd have to start from the final blood bomb flying elsewhere.
The overall story seemed unchanged anyway; it was just more realistic, like the gash left in the Human Butcher's belly or the floor shattering when it flailed.
The knight clicked their tongue, grabbed the helmet that was about to split in two, and tore it off themselves. The broken helmet pieces clattered across the ground.
Hidden within, silver hair—long and straight like moonlight—cascaded down.
'......Wait, what? Long hair?'
Stunned by the unforeseen sight for a moment, my eyes met the knight's.
Silver eyes matching the hair color gazed at me, set in a face that was objectively—and subjectively—stunningly beautiful.
Yes, the one inside the armor was a young woman.
Not the middle-aged man from my memory.