Gigaesingwan (2)

Uuoooorrgghh—

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

I wanted nothing more than to charge straight at Gigaesingwan and force every last secret out of that thing, but a wall of Acolyte Zombies surged into my path. I swung my sword at the nearest one.

Uuoooorr—

"Oh? Dodging, are we?"

To my surprise, the damn Acolyte Zombie actually slipped past my blade.

Every zombie we had faced until now had never bothered to dodge. They felt no pain, so they had no reason to get out of the way. These ones were different. They twisted and vaulted through the air with a circus acrobat's agility that no corpse had any business possessing.

"Wh-what the hell are these things?"

A type of zombie I had never seen before. The shock of it bled the heat right out of my blood. I had been so worked up about prying information out of Gigaesingwan that I had nearly lost my head.

I'm not punching through this on my own.

They were far too quick. I could not just step on their shoulders and sprint to the boss in a single burst. With my head cooling, I could think clearly again.

Fall back first.

If I tried to break through alone, they would encircle me in seconds. My specs were on par with a 5-star, sure — but getting swarmed by this many monsters was a different story entirely. Before they could box me in, I retreated to the party.

"Ugh... do you always have to fight that recklessly?"

"Nngh..."

Kanisia laid into me the moment I got back. She was the only person in this party who could chew me out like that. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Everyone else was either my Fairy or hers.

"Kill... the interlopers..."

Gigaesingwan — grotesque enough to live up to the name — stretched a hand toward us, and the Acolyte Zombies came pouring in.

"Come forth, ye dead!"

Abraham thrust his shield forward as the skill took hold. The Acolyte Zombies that had been spreading out to either side stopped dead, then came thundering straight at him.

"Hup!"

He braced, pouring strength into the arm that held the shield, ready for the impact. But the Acolyte Zombies did not slam into the shield the way he expected.

Uuoooorrgghh—

Their voices were sluggish and slurred. Their bodies were anything but. And there was no reading which way they would move next.

"What?!"

The zombies Abraham had pulled did not attack his shield at all. They launched themselves into the air, vaulted clean over it, and landed behind him — then tore into his back. He could not even turn around. More of them were still coming from the front.

"Abraham!"

"Just focus on what's in front of you!"

If Abraham had been standing there alone, he would not have lasted long. He would have gone down without a fight. But he was not alone.

We were here too.

Abraham was the shield that protected this party. Covering the back of that shield was our job.

Kanisia and I burst forward at the same time. Sword and spear carved through the air together.

The zombies launched themselves upward again, slipping past both attacks.

"Why are they so damn fast?!"

"Hmph! I already saw that coming, you sons of bitches!"

Kanisia balked at the sight of corpses hopping around like monkeys. I did not. I had already watched them dodge me head-on. I had gone in expecting them to slip my blade one way or another.

"Eat this!"

The sword was a fake. The real attack was Wind Arrow.

Thnk-thnk-thnk-thnk-thnk—!

Uuoooorrgghh—

In dramas, people who get shot twitch and jerk in place. The Acolyte Zombie that took a Wind Arrow looked exactly like that. And because the arrows themselves were invisible to the naked eye, all you saw was a corpse standing there, convulsing for no apparent reason. It was almost funny.

"Die, you bastard!"

Feeling no pain did not mean you were free of the consequences. A man with no legs cannot walk. The moment the Wind Arrows punched into its joints, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Acolyte Zombie shuddered — and then it could not move at all.

Shhk—!

I took its head off with a single cut, then stomped the skull that hit the floor until it burst. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Rot-black brain matter smeared across the stone.

Shhk—! Shhk—! Slash—!

What the hell? Since when does she fight like that?

Someone on our side was putting on a surprisingly good show — or rather, some Fairy was. Aquaril. She was carving through those acrobatic Acolyte Zombies like it was nothing.

They were so fast that predicting where they would go, or how, was close to impossible. But the distance they could actually travel was limited.

Whenever the Acolyte Zombies went hopping and skipping across the floor, Aquaril simply chased them down. The instant they stopped, her sword was already there. Moving corpses could not shake a Fairy with agility stats like hers.

Okay.

Watching Aquaril, I figured out how to deal with them — and then I moved the same way she did.

I attacked. They dodged. I waited. The moment one of them stopped, I swung.

Shhk—!

"That's it!"

An Acolyte Zombie's head lifted clean off its shoulders. I spun with it, snapped a kick into the skull still hanging in the air, and — pop! — it burst.

"Hyaaah!"

Our party's main dealer was not about to sit this one out either.

Kanisia's agility stat was lower than mine or Aquaril's, but she had a skill that made up the difference.

Whoooooosh—

Wind began to gather around her, the effect of her skill, Flow of Wind.

Her body loosened, quickened. She drove her spear straight through an Acolyte Zombie's skull.

These bastards... they're actually pretty squishy.

Of every zombie we had run into, the Acolyte Zombies had the highest evasion by a mile. Their defense, on the other hand, was garbage.

Our party had gotten stronger — Growth Stones, grinding our way through the Catacomb — but we were not yet at the point where we could drop a zombie in a single hit. The fact that we were doing it anyway meant their defense was just that thin.

Once we had the method down, the Acolyte Zombies were no longer a match for us.

We had cut their numbers by more than half — there had been over fifty of them — when I felt the timing settle into place.

It should be coming any second now...

I flicked a glance at my wristwatch, confirmed the window, and stopped moving. I planted my feet and attacked with nothing but Wind Arrow, picking Acolyte Zombies off from where I stood.

"You will not... steal even our... rest..."

Gigaesingwan, who had been watching us fight from the back of the room, raised a hand. A sinister black aura gathered in its palm.

We had dropped a lot of Acolyte Zombies, but Kanisia was still sitting at level 79. I was one level above her, at 80.

"Incarnation... of the Serpent...!"

Gigaesingwan thrust its hand toward me and hurled the black aura. I could have dodged it easily. I did not.

Got it!

The curse I had been waiting for finally landed. I dismissed the window at once. The moment it vanished, my senses blew wide open, as if someone had cut the sandbags off my body.

The moaning of the zombies. The rotten stench packed into every corner of the boss room. The prickling killing intent pressing in from every direction.

"Aquaril! Take my spot!"

I half-lidded my eyes, shouted the order, and exploded forward the same way I had the instant we first stepped into this room.

I had been waiting for Gigaesingwan to put this curse on me since before we even entered the boss room. That was why I had been so careful with the last hits — keeping Kanisia from taking them, keeping our levels exactly where I wanted them.

Kanisia had warned me not to get addicted to the strength the curse offered. I did not see it that way.

If there was an easy, fast road, why the hell would I take the long, hard one? By that logic, Molt was a shortcut too.

Growth was not a marathon with a marked course.

The orthodox method was stable, sure. But what was the point of walking the orthodox path if some bastard who took the shortcut put you in the ground?

This world was crawling with Masters and Fairies far stronger than me. Their power, their influence, their wealth — I could not even dream of catching up the honest way.

While I ran myself ragged looping dungeons until I dropped, they would be honing their strength by far more efficient means. If I was riding a bicycle, those people had shown up to the race in supercars.

So what other choice did I have?

I would take the shortcut. I would put myself on the same starting line as them.

Uuoooorrgghh—

The moment I charged Gigaesingwan, the Acolyte Zombies threw themselves in my path the same as before. I swung.

Last time, they had dodged.

This time, the opposite happened.

Shhk—!

Uuoooorr—?

The Acolyte Zombie hopped, trying to clear my blade — but my sword had already finished tracing across its neck. The head, separated from its body, wore the look of something that had no idea what had just happened to it.

Thwack—!

I put a Wind Arrow through the bewildered skull and burst it.

Fuck. This is insane.

I had not been able to predict how the Acolyte Zombies would move. Not anymore. With the curse on me, I could use every ounce of power I had. I could see where they would go. I could feel, in my gut, exactly where to put the blade to kill them.

Right now I was a wild animal. An apex predator.

An apex predator did not need to think. Thinking was for the weak. I stopped thinking and gave my body to instinct.

Shhk—! Slash—! Shhk—! Slash—!

The Acolyte Zombies in my way went down one after another. They swung back at me, but this time I was the one slipping their attacks like it was nothing.

"Incarnation... of the Serpent...!"

"....."

I broke through the last of them and found myself standing in front of Gigaesingwan.

Heh heh heh. You're dead, you freak. I'll make it quick, so be a good boy and tell me everything you know!

That was what I wanted to say — I wanted to laugh in its face. But a body running on pure ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instinct was already moving before my lips could even part.

Gigaesingwan was so tall that my head came up to its pelvis. And I was not a short man.

I swung for its thigh.

Clang—!

...Clang?

My sword did not cut. It rang like I had just struck steel, metal on metal. Of every zombie monster I had faced, this thing had the highest defense by far.

"Die...!"

Gigaesingwan swept an arm at me. I rolled forward, under the blow. Then it started stomping, trying to crush me into the floor.

Slow.

Its movements were painfully sluggish. Before it could even stamp down a third time, my body was already well out of reach.

God, this is frustrating.

I wanted to mock the thing staring down at me. My body, loyal only to instinct, would not give me the time.

I attacked again. And again. Every swing died against skin as hard as steel. I could not put a scratch on it.

My Strength stat was sitting at 99 points, and I could not deal any damage at all. It was absurd.

Wind Arrow.

I changed tactics and went at it with a skill instead. Dozens of arrows formed around me and screamed toward the boss.

Clang-clang-clang-clang—!

...That doesn't work either?

It sounded like rain hitting a sheet of metal. Gigaesingwan's physical defense was not the only problem. Its magic defense was just as high.

Tsk... so how the hell do I kill this thing?

Wind Arrow was the strongest skill I had available. If even that would not go through, I had no way to put it down.

No... wait.

There was still one method I had not tried.

The reason I could not cut its skin with 99 points of Strength was that the sword could not carry my full power. So what about raw Strength, with nothing in between?

Could it tank that too?

Let's fucking go!

I hurled my sword at Gigaesingwan with everything I had — and then I charged.