Kutlanka Raid (1)

Level. Show me the level.

Like a butterfly just beginning to stir from its cocoon, Kutlanka had only just started to move. I locked my gaze on it, and a system window bloomed in front of my eyes.

I had no idea what conditions other people needed to see a system window. I could see all of them. And my condition was simple: all I had to do was whisper what I wanted in my mind.

Level 100. Kutlanka was level 100.

Level 100... that's a little iffy.

If it had been level 90, I would have been confident we could take it. Kutlanka was ten levels higher than that.

But this wasn't Fairy Masters, where you were locked to five people and a ticking clock. This was reality. In reality, you didn't have to fight a raid boss with five people, and more importantly, there was no time limit. You just kept hitting the thing until it died.

Even so, I still called it iffy — because the gap between level 90 and level 100 was enormous. Up through level 90, even newbies could squeeze out damage worth being proud of. From level 100 on, a raid boss's stats jumped so hard that unless you'd raised your fairies properly, you could barely scratch it.

On top of that, we had more than ten Masters and fairies here, and I had never once synced with any of them. Could they actually fight the way I'd planned? If something unexpected happened, could they adapt on the fly? I had my doubts.

...Ah, fuck it. Let's just read the angle and decide from there.

If it looked impossible, we'd run. Then our Flamemong would handle the rest.

"Everyone remembers what I told you, right? Don't even think about rushing in and hacking at it. Skills only. You fight this thing with skills — nothing else."

I issued the warning again to the party members staring up at Kutlanka as it slowly lifted its head, their faces drawn tight with tension.

In Fairy Masters, Kutlanka had physical attack resistance. At level 100, it shrugged off seventy percent of physical damage. In practical terms, physical attacks did nothing.

Explaining that to the party had been a pain in the ass. I knew it from my previous life's memories. Nobody here did. So I'd told them I'd deduced its abilities from the rumors about Kutlanka, and thanks to that, the way they looked at me had changed a lot.

How to put it... Before, they'd thought of me as a pretty decent Master. Now they thought of me as a ridiculously handsome genius of one?

"Let's go, Abraham. After you, Thor."

"Understood, Lord Alan."

"Bwahahaha! It's huge! Feels like we're fighting a mountain!"

Holding Kutlanka's aggro on the front line would be me, Abraham, and Thor — Chae Gillard's friend. Abraham carried his massive square shield. Thor, who didn't look nervous in the slightest, was laughing as he hefted a two-handed hammer. I took up a sword and shield.

We walked slowly toward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the resurrected Kutlanka. Behind us, the party members began preparing their skills and magic.

Screeeeeech—

Kutlanka still hadn't taken a single step. Of course it hadn't. A thing that hadn't moved in ages wasn't going to start bounding around like a chicken on steroids just because it had come back to life.

Holy... fuck, that thing is actually enormous.

Kutlanka had looked huge from a distance. Up close, it was far worse. If it was this big as a skeleton, I couldn't even imagine the size of it when it had still been whole.

Anyway — right now, while it still couldn't move properly, was our chance to dump everything we had.

At the order, the party members who'd been winding up their skills unleashed everything at Kutlanka at once. Aquaril's sword aura, Kanisia's mana javelins, Chae Gillard's fireballs — the skill attacks of twelve people poured down. Thirteen, technically, but Pazniri was still out cold.

Wind Arrow, Wind Arrow, Wind Arrow!

I fired my only magic skill at Kutlanka's leg. Not that it would mean much.

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Individually, we were infinitely frail next to a monster the size of Kutlanka. But when that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠many people concentrated their skill attacks on a single point — its leg — it was bound to do something.

CRACK!

Spiderweb fractures began spreading across the bone. The cracks grew longer, denser, hungrier.

It's working!

I clenched a fist inside my chest. The thing had four legs, so shattering one wouldn't stop it from walking — but it would slow it down. On top of that, Kutlanka had four means of attack: its head and breath, its legs, and its tail. Neutralizing even one of those was a massive advantage. Lose a front leg, and any attempt to strike with the remaining one would send it pitching forward.

It was a method that had worked in Fairy Masters. It worked just as well here.

While we were pouring on the attacks, Kutlanka finally succeeded in lifting its head. It looked up at the sky and roared. How was it even making sound without vocal cords?

A skeleton with no throat roaring was a bizarre spectacle unfolding right in front of me. I didn't have the luxury of being amazed.

"Kh!"

"My — my ears...!"

"Ugh!"

Kutlanka's roar thundered like a lightning strike going off at arm's length, as if the invisible air itself had been set violently vibrating. We'd been dumping skills on it; the roar forced us to stop and clap our hands over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠our ears.

The leg?

I looked at the one we'd been hammering. Damn it. Badly cracked — but not broken.

Having let out a satisfying roar, the monster lowered its head this time and looked down at us. In place of the eyeballs the Witch Queen's ultimate had erased long ago, a dark crimson aura blazed as if burning with rage.

Yeah. It had every right to be pissed. Anyone would be furious if they woke from a long sleep to find ants chewing on their body.

"What's the matter, you overgrown skull? Pissed off?"

I forced my trembling mouth into a smirk, sneered up at Kutlanka, and shot forward. Its leg still hadn't broken.

"Lord Alan! That is dangerous!"

"Don't go charging in alone, pal! Let's go together!"

Abraham worried as I broke ranks by myself. Thor followed after me with that massive two-handed hammer. Who the hell said I was your pal, you bastard?

Chae Gillard... a man like him will know exactly what he needs to do.

Chae Gillard was an outstanding man. He had more combat experience than I did, and his rank was higher. On top of that, his way of thinking was somehow similar to mine. A man like that would know what his job was.

So I would do what I could do.

Wind Arrow!

I prepared the skill as I ran.

WHOOOOSH— THUD—!

"Ah, fuck!"

Something came crashing down from above. One of its three tail bones. Like a man crushing an ant under a fingertip, it was trying to smash me flat.

"Thought I was gonna die!"

I scrambled out of range before the tail bone could slam into the ground. Fortunately, it wasn't all that fast.

I really almost died just now!

The tail bone wasn't fast. But the sight of something that enormous coming down to crush you was more terrifying than any horror movie. You didn't fail to dodge because it was too quick — you failed because terror locked your body and you couldn't move. Mine had frozen the instant I saw that bone coming at me, too. I'd bitten my tongue in time and managed to dodge. If I hadn't, I would have died and come back to life right in front of everyone.

"HRYAAAAAH!"

Meanwhile Thor, who'd followed me, leaped high and swung his two-handed hammer. Just looking at it, the thing seemed impossibly heavy, but he wielded it like it weighed nothing — his Strength stat had to be enormous.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The power was formidable and the sound was huge. To Kutlanka it was barely a tickle. Of course it was — Thor didn't have any attack skills. His entire combat style was a physical-attack one-trick built on that high Strength stat. Against a creature with physical damage reduction, his hits were never going to matter.

"Wh-whoa?! WAAAAAAAH!"

Apparently it had been ticklish enough, because Kutlanka shrieked and kicked him. Fortunately we were close enough that his body didn't pop like a balloon — but the shove still sent him flying far into the distance.

"...Ah, that muscle-brained son of a bitch!"

I watched Thor sail away and exploded with frustration. One of the tanks who was supposed to be holding Kutlanka's attention up front had just been taken out of the fight.

"Abraham! Go to the other side and pull its eyes! We'll take turns drawing its gaze from the left and the right!"

"Understood, Lord Alan!"

Abraham sprinted to the opposite flank, and I latched onto the cracked leg and hung on. I skittered around it, firing Wind Arrow after Wind Arrow, scraping at its nerves.

Apparently I was annoying enough. Kutlanka swung its tail bone at me. RUMBLE — the bone came flying sideways, smashing through the buildings of the village where the Snake Bandits had been staying.

Fuck, that's terrifying!

"Ptoo!"

I spat the blood that had pooled in my mouth and charged. Timing it so I jumped just as the tail bone — demolishing houses as it came — drew close, I leaped up and clung to its pillar-thick leg bone.

The leg was covered in cracks. I jammed my hands into the gaps and climbed. It wasn't long before the tail bone closed in.

WHACK!

The tail that had been chasing me slammed into its own leg. Bone of high durability and hardness collided with bone. One side was intact. The other was already fractured.

CRAAAAACK—!

The cracks in the leg bone exploded outward at a terrifying speed. The tail delivered an impact incomparably greater than anything we'd managed.

Kutlanka roared again. Same sound — but this time, maybe it was just my imagination, it sounded like a cry of pain.

Wind Arrow!

Still hanging from the leg bone, I used the skill. It did nothing.

Unfortunately, my attacks couldn't deal damage to it no matter how cracked the bone was. My rank was low and my skill level wasn't high either. And the decisive reason was that my class wasn't Mage. Mage classes carried a kind of passive that boosted the power of their skills. The class effect let you use any skill regardless of restriction, sure — but there was always going to be a huge gap between a magic skill fired by a Mage and the same skill fired by anyone else.

Wind Arrow!

The reason I kept firing them anyway was simple: even one point of damage would chip its HP. Grains of sand, they said, could make a mountain.

"Out of the way!"

"Master! Get clear!"

Chae Gillard's voice and Aquaril's cut in from behind me. I turned my head and saw Chae Gillard with a miniature sun floating above his head.

I knew it!

I clenched a fist inside my chest. Just as I'd expected, Chae Gillard knew exactly what he needed to do. While I'd been running around like a maniac, he'd been preparing an attack that would shatter the leg. That was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠result.

Chae Gillard had a skill called Spell Memorization.

The miniature sun floating above his head was a combination of his favorite skill and his ultimate.

"If you don't want to die, get out of the way yourself!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

Chae Gillard launched the magic in my direction. A miniature sun ten meters across came flying at me.

If I got caught in that, I wouldn't walk away either. Without any magic-resistance traits, I'd be roasted alive if that thing hit me. I hurriedly leaped off Kutlanka's leg and ran to get clear of the blast.

This should be far enough, right?

"Heehee. You mustn't stop there. You need to go much farther."

"Huh?"

A familiar woman's voice came from behind me. I turned around to find Entris, Chae Gillard's fairy, standing there — I had no idea when she'd arrived.

"Shall we go?"

"What... wait? Wh-what are you doing? Gah?!"

She grabbed my clothes without warning and started running.

KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOM—!

The miniature sun Chae Gillard had prepared collided with Kutlanka's leg and detonated.

"Holy shit."

I clicked my tongue at the flames erupting in every direction. The fire was sweeping over the spot where I'd been standing.

And the effect was unmistakable.

Kutlanka's front leg had broken.