Chapter 278: Vortex (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 278: Vortex (4)
Farune Island's hidden Easter egg was the Fury of the Sea. The difficulty of this special event, which was triggered when the altar was destroyed while fewer than twenty people occupied the island, was determined by the number of people present. With five to nine people, there was an increase in the number of ordinary monsters that spawned. With ten to fourteen, a fourth wave of monsters was added, and the final boss appeared. With fifteen to nineteen, some of the final boss's restrictions were removed.
I didn't think I would be raiding a rank three while so unprepared...
The longer I thought about it, the more I wanted to sigh. What I had been aiming for was the boss of the third wave. If we'd managed to trigger the event with only six people, the fourth wave wouldn't have even started. My plan had been to take down large trash mobs and collect a bunch of mana stones and essences to sell, and if possible, secure a rank-four essence for Erwen. But nothing had gone as planned.
...Why does my life always turn out like this?
It wasn't enough that the event had been triggered on the highest difficulty level. The number of people on the island had gradually decreased to the point that we were now facing the last wave with ten people. Even the Elfroth's essence hadn't appeared as I hoped. Of course, if the final boss were to cough up an essence, I could happily bounce back from that.
But it'll be hard to take down.
In this situation, survival was more important than loot. That was what rank-three monsters were like in this game. We may have been adventurers who had reached the sixth floor, but as ten people who had never fought together as a team, this was a beast that was virtually impossible for us to hunt.
But what can we do? We have to try.
I lifted myself up.
"The blessing will soon disappear." The priestess spoke as if she had been waiting for this to happen.
"Exactly how much time is left?"
"Ten minutes."
So, ten minutes...
I nodded and looked around. I could see Patzran and Amelia conversing a short distance away.
"A rank-three monster, are you sure?"
"The truth won't change just because you don't believe it."
"You speak as if you saw the monster with your own eyes. Danger Detection isn't that accurate an ability. I heard the information you get from it is conveyed in the form of shapes and sensations, and it often ends up either exaggerating or underestimating the strength of a monster."
It was a tedious doubt and a tedious conversation. I turned away from them and approached someone else: Missha Karlstein, my oldest comrade, who had been with me in the labyrinth for the longest.
"Bjorn..."
The one thing I can't call her is my lover, though.
I smiled ruefully and asked, "How are you holding up?"
"I think I should be the one asking you that..."
"I'm okay. A little under the weather, but that's probably because I slept so long."
After that, I took the time to talk to Missha. It wasn't to tell her a secret plan I couldn't tell anyone else or something, but because I hadn't had a proper conversation with her yet. Right after we reunited, I spent the whole day knocked out, and now that I was awake, the last wave was beginning, leaving us no time.
"I was really worried."
"I'm... sorry. That woman seemed to know you so I couldn't leave her—"
"You're supposed to say, 'I won't make you worry anymore.'"
"Okay. I won't."
Okay, that solves that problem. What do we talk about now?
"Anyway, I'm glad everrryone is all right. I was really worried, to be honest. For some reason, I had a strange feeling..."
"Strange feeling?"
"...Nothing to worry about. Now that I think about it, I was just anxious after being separated from you guys."
True, that was generally how people worked. Negative thoughts were usually more vivid than positive ones.
"...But is it okay for us to be chatting like this?"
Why not? That priestess is just sitting there praying too.
Mr. Bear was even writing a letter. Was it because he'd already come back from the dead once in the past two days? As soon as he heard that a rank-three monster had appeared, it seemed he remembered some things he wanted to say to his wife.
"Urakburak! Why are you doing something so silly!? You can tell her the name of your child yourself once you get home!"
"Whatever, just tell me, what name do you think would suit a girl? You're... ahem, a woman yourself."
What, was he seriously naming his child right now? This was freaking me out... I wished he'd stop raising all these flags.
"...This rrreminds me of last time."
"Oh, when we were trapped on the first floor?"
"Yes. The mood was just like this back then."
Like this? Compared to back then, this was nothing. Even Raven took the time to make a will and asked us to bring it back to the city if she didn't survive. Most of that will dealt with the issue of money.
"Anyway, Bjorn, you'rrre the same now as you were then."
"About not leaving a will?"
"Yeah."
I ended up chuckling. There was no one outside the labyrinth to whom I could bequeath a will in the first place, and even if I died, I didn't want to reveal my identity. That would leave behind a much better memory.
"But Missha, you didn't leave a will, either."
"Yes, but..." Missha trailed off.
It seemed there was something she wanted to say to me, so I cut her off. "Let's stop with all this depressing talk. We got home alive last time, didn't we? It will be the same this time."
"...Yeah. You're the one saying it, so I believe it."
Afterward, we stopped worrying about the present and moved onto lighter topics.
A while later, Amelia called out to me. "Barbarian. It's time."
Peaceful moments like this always flew by.
"Haha, a rank-three monster. How exciting!" Ainar was already holding her greatsword, which she had been rigorously sharpening with a whetstone in our downtime.
"Honestly, Miss Ainar... Is now really the right time to get excited? When we might all die?" Raven scolded.
"Now, now. Stop fighting. Everyone, take this." Mr. Bear handed out letters covered in crooked writing to each of his teammates.
"I was really worried."
"I'm... sorry. That woman seemed to know you so I couldn't leave her—"
"You're supposed to say, 'I won't make you worry anymore.'"
"Okay. I won't."
Okay, that solves that problem. What do we talk about now?
"Anyway, I'm glad everrryone is all right. I was really worried, to be honest. For some reason, I had a strange feeling..."
"Strange feeling?"
"...Nothing to worry about. Now that I think about it, I was just anxious after being separated from you guys."
True, that was generally how people worked. Negative thoughts were usually more vivid than positive ones.
"...But is it okay for us to be chatting like this?"
Why not? That priestess is just sitting there praying too.
Mr. Bear was even writing a letter. Was it because he'd already come back from the dead once in the past two days? As soon as he heard that a rank-three monster had appeared, it seemed he remembered some things he wanted to say to his wife.
"Urakburak! Why are you doing something so silly!? You can tell her the name of your child yourself once you get home!"
"Whatever, just tell me, what name do you think would suit a girl? You're... ahem, a woman yourself."
What, was he seriously naming his child right now? This was freaking me out... I wished he'd stop raising all these flags.
"...This rrreminds me of last time."
"Oh, when we were trapped on the first floor?"
"Yes. The mood was just like this back then."
Like this? Compared to back then, this was nothing. Even Raven took the time to make a will and asked us to bring it back to the city if she didn't survive. Most of that will dealt with the issue of money.
"Anyway, Bjorn, you'rrre the same now as you were then."
"About not leaving a will?"
"Yeah."
I ended up chuckling. There was no one outside the labyrinth to whom I could bequeath a will in the first place, and even if I died, I didn't want to reveal my identity. That would leave behind a much better memory.
"But Missha, you didn't leave a will, either."
"Yes, but..." Missha trailed off.
It seemed there was something she wanted to say to me, so I cut her off. "Let's stop with all this depressing talk. We got home alive last time, didn't we? It will be the same this time."
"...Yeah. You're the one saying it, so I believe it."
Afterward, we stopped worrying about the present and moved onto lighter topics.
A while later, Amelia called out to me. "Barbarian. It's time."
Peaceful moments like this always flew by.
"Haha, a rank-three monster. How exciting!" Ainar was already holding her greatsword, which she had been rigorously sharpening with a whetstone in our downtime.
"Honestly, Miss Ainar... Is now really the right time to get excited? When we might all die?" Raven scolded.
"Now, now. Stop fighting. Everyone, take this." Mr. Bear handed out letters covered in crooked writing to each of his teammates.
The priestess also stood up after a long prayer. "May the light shine on the path we take."
"Missha."
"Yeah."
After sending Missha back, I stood at the front of the formation, lifting up my mace and shield. Before long, the barrier surrounding us shattered.
[Destruction of Evil has deactivated.]
It was time to roll the dice.
"Keeeeeek!"
As soon as Destruction of Evil lifted, the group of monsters camped out in front of the barrier began to attack, and Raven called out the trigger for the magic circle she had prepared in advance.
"Sartum Ebehel!"
This was a military spell that ordinary wizards were not permitted to learn due to its abnormally high lethality for its rank.
[Arua Raven has cast the rank-4 attack spell Collapse.]
The moment the magic circle began to glow, red targets appeared on the vital points of the hundreds of monsters rushing toward us.
Crackkk!
About two seconds later, explosions rang out, and numerous monsters were torn apart. A horde of rank-six monsters was practically swept away with one shot of magic. Of course, these incredible results weren't obtained without a price.
"...I'm going to rest now." With this one spell, Raven had consumed almost all of her mana and we could no longer expect support from her. Her role was now to conserve her mana and replenish MP until the final boss showed up.
"Behel—aaah!"
Therefore, the remaining enemies were up to us.
"Keeeeeek!" The dense group of monsters had been annihilated, but more monsters flooded in from all sides, filling the gaps.
Chomp, chomp, chomp!
Only activating Giantization, I focused solely on fulfilling my role as a shield for my comrades so they could comfortably deal damage. We already had enough firepower for a trash mob, anyway.
Whiiip! Stab! Kwaaang!
The three-person long-range damage team consisted of Erwen, Nebarce, and Mr. Bear.
[Ainar Fenelin has killed an opponent. Satiation has activated and Soul Power is restored.]
Ainar showed off her true worth while facing multiple weak enemies. Rank-four adventurer Patzran also pulled his weight, and Missha used her characteristic speed to pass me by and get rid of the enemies making a break for the rear.
She really fights well.
The most impressive was Amelia. She refused the position I tried to assign her, saying she'd handle things herself, and she really was capable of doing just that.
Slice!
Ten monsters disappeared into bursts of light with a single stroke of her shortsword as she danced through them like a one-woman army. If you counted the doppelgangers she'd summoned through Self-Replication, that number went up to at least fifteen. I was a little worried about that, though.
"Wouldn't it be better to conserve a bit of strength?" MP was one thing, but the thing I was most concerned about was Mana, another resource consumed when using an aura. If she used all of it now, she might not be able to use it against the boss later.
"I know my own limitations best, so stop ordering me around."
"...If you say so." What could I say to that? If she had a brain, she'd be able to pace herself. She had more live combat experience than me, anyway.
The priestess also stood up after a long prayer. "May the light shine on the path we take."
"Missha."
"Yeah."
After sending Missha back, I stood at the front of the formation, lifting up my mace and shield. Before long, the barrier surrounding us shattered.
[Destruction of Evil has deactivated.]
It was time to roll the dice.
"Keeeeeek!"
As soon as Destruction of Evil lifted, the group of monsters camped out in front of the barrier began to attack, and Raven called out the trigger for the magic circle she had prepared in advance.
"Sartum Ebehel!"
This was a military spell that ordinary wizards were not permitted to learn due to its abnormally high lethality for its rank.
[Arua Raven has cast the rank-4 attack spell Collapse.]
The moment the magic circle began to glow, red targets appeared on the vital points of the hundreds of monsters rushing toward us.
Crackkk!
About two seconds later, explosions rang out, and numerous monsters were torn apart. A horde of rank-six monsters was practically swept away with one shot of magic. Of course, these incredible results weren't obtained without a price.
"...I'm going to rest now." With this one spell, Raven had consumed almost all of her mana and we could no longer expect support from her. Her role was now to conserve her mana and replenish MP until the final boss showed up.
"Behel—aaah!"
Therefore, the remaining enemies were up to us.
"Keeeeeek!" The dense group of monsters had been annihilated, but more monsters flooded in from all sides, filling the gaps.
Chomp, chomp, chomp!
Only activating Giantization, I focused solely on fulfilling my role as a shield for my comrades so they could comfortably deal damage. We already had enough firepower for a trash mob, anyway.
Whiiip! Stab! Kwaaang!
The three-person long-range damage team consisted of Erwen, Nebarce, and Mr. Bear.
[Ainar Fenelin has killed an opponent. Satiation has activated and Soul Power is restored.]
Ainar showed off her true worth while facing multiple weak enemies. Rank-four adventurer Patzran also pulled his weight, and Missha used her characteristic speed to pass me by and get rid of the enemies making a break for the rear.
She really fights well.
The most impressive was Amelia. She refused the position I tried to assign her, saying she'd handle things herself, and she really was capable of doing just that.
Slice!
Ten monsters disappeared into bursts of light with a single stroke of her shortsword as she danced through them like a one-woman army. If you counted the doppelgangers she'd summoned through Self-Replication, that number went up to at least fifteen. I was a little worried about that, though.
"Wouldn't it be better to conserve a bit of strength?" MP was one thing, but the thing I was most concerned about was Mana, another resource consumed when using an aura. If she used all of it now, she might not be able to use it against the boss later.
"I know my own limitations best, so stop ordering me around."
"...If you say so." What could I say to that? If she had a brain, she'd be able to pace herself. She had more live combat experience than me, anyway.
I just need to do my job well.
Holding my shield, I focused only on blocking the incoming monsters. I swung my mace at times, but only enough to push our enemies back out of the assessment that my MP should be conserved for later. Unless I used Swing, I had to hit the monsters at least ten times to kill them.
"The monsters are gradually decreasing too."
The more mana stones began piling up around us, the more the number of monsters flocking us decreased.
"Maybe that means the priestess's prayer worked!"
Mr. Bear and the others looked delighted by that suggestion, but I remained quiet. That was because I knew that all the monsters we'd been fighting so far were the ones left over from the third wave that we hadn't managed to kill. The fourth wave didn't have regular monsters. Yeah, that was the least this game could do if it had any conscience at all. How would we have been able to take down a rank-three boss monster if this place was riddled with trash mobs too?
"Let's build up some more steam!" Anyway, the positive news boosted the group's morale.
"Looks like there are no more in the area now."
Time passed and the trash mobs were finally cleaned up. We quickly picked up the mana stones, reorganized our formation, and took a short break as we waited. It lasted for only about ten minutes.
"It's here," Amelia said, her voice low. No one asked which direction. Everyone raised their heads and turned to one spot in particular as soon as she spoke.
Boom.
Beyond the bushes, we heard heavy footsteps. Then, the monster smashed through a tree and showed itself.
Boom!
"Kwohhhhhh!" This was the first rank-three monster we were facing.
Upon sighting it, Raven screamed out the information she knew. "...I-It's a Storm Gush!"
Storm Gush was a rank-three aquatic monster nicknamed the Ogre of the Sea. To describe it in more detail, it was similar to a crustacean, though that didn't mean it had a lobster-like appearance. Its fifteen-foot-tall body was covered in thick, hard shells, but its basic form was that of a Lizardman.
Boom!
Its long tail served as a counterweight and its snout protruded. It walked on two legs and wielded a weapon even with its ridiculous physique.
Boom!
When the monster fully revealed itself, everyone gulped.
"That's a rank-three monster..."
It was an uncommon monster that clans on the seventh floor had to fight in the dozens. I'd fought many monsters of this size before, but this guy exuded a menace that was in a whole other league. Still, it wasn't anything compared to the Lord of the Floor.
I hurriedly shouted, "Prepare for battle!"
What are you all blanking for? We're already within his range.
"Kwohhh!"
With a massive harpoon in his hand, the boss charged at us, moving with an incredible agility that that bulky body didn't seem capable of. I immediately turned on Giantization (Transcendence) Mode. You needed to be in the same weight class to fight with a guy like this.
[Your Physique will increase in proportion to your Strength.]
My warrior's body began to grow in an instant. The look in the charging monster's eyes slowly began to change, from that of someone looking at easy prey to someone facing an enemy. That was fair—the last time I measured my height in this state, I was just over fifteen feet. He probably never thought there could ever be a human tall enough to meet his eye.
I just need to do my job well.
Holding my shield, I focused only on blocking the incoming monsters. I swung my mace at times, but only enough to push our enemies back out of the assessment that my MP should be conserved for later. Unless I used Swing, I had to hit the monsters at least ten times to kill them.
"The monsters are gradually decreasing too."
The more mana stones began piling up around us, the more the number of monsters flocking us decreased.
"Maybe that means the priestess's prayer worked!"
Mr. Bear and the others looked delighted by that suggestion, but I remained quiet. That was because I knew that all the monsters we'd been fighting so far were the ones left over from the third wave that we hadn't managed to kill. The fourth wave didn't have regular monsters. Yeah, that was the least this game could do if it had any conscience at all. How would we have been able to take down a rank-three boss monster if this place was riddled with trash mobs too?
"Let's build up some more steam!" Anyway, the positive news boosted the group's morale.
"Looks like there are no more in the area now."
Time passed and the trash mobs were finally cleaned up. We quickly picked up the mana stones, reorganized our formation, and took a short break as we waited. It lasted for only about ten minutes.
"It's here," Amelia said, her voice low. No one asked which direction. Everyone raised their heads and turned to one spot in particular as soon as she spoke.
Boom.
Beyond the bushes, we heard heavy footsteps. Then, the monster smashed through a tree and showed itself.
Boom!
"Kwohhhhhh!" This was the first rank-three monster we were facing.
Upon sighting it, Raven screamed out the information she knew. "...I-It's a Storm Gush!"
Storm Gush was a rank-three aquatic monster nicknamed the Ogre of the Sea. To describe it in more detail, it was similar to a crustacean, though that didn't mean it had a lobster-like appearance. Its fifteen-foot-tall body was covered in thick, hard shells, but its basic form was that of a Lizardman.
Boom!
Its long tail served as a counterweight and its snout protruded. It walked on two legs and wielded a weapon even with its ridiculous physique.
Boom!
When the monster fully revealed itself, everyone gulped.
"That's a rank-three monster..."
It was an uncommon monster that clans on the seventh floor had to fight in the dozens. I'd fought many monsters of this size before, but this guy exuded a menace that was in a whole other league. Still, it wasn't anything compared to the Lord of the Floor.
I hurriedly shouted, "Prepare for battle!"
What are you all blanking for? We're already within his range.
"Kwohhh!"
With a massive harpoon in his hand, the boss charged at us, moving with an incredible agility that that bulky body didn't seem capable of. I immediately turned on Giantization (Transcendence) Mode. You needed to be in the same weight class to fight with a guy like this.
[Your Physique will increase in proportion to your Strength.]
My warrior's body began to grow in an instant. The look in the charging monster's eyes slowly began to change, from that of someone looking at easy prey to someone facing an enemy. That was fair—the last time I measured my height in this state, I was just over fifteen feet. He probably never thought there could ever be a human tall enough to meet his eye.
"Behel—aaah!" Soon, with Wild Outburst, my Physique stats jumped and I ran forward. If he overpowered me in terms of strength in our very first exchange, I would definitely be looked down on.
Kwaaang!
A few steps later, his trident struck my shield. "Heavy" wasn't a strong enough word to describe the blow.
So, even in this state, I'm outmatched.
Bumping into him flung my body back. I hadn't experienced that since receiving the passive skill Union with one of my Immortality Imprints. Not that it came with a knockback bonus or anything, but ever since my equipment started growing with me when I Giantized, it had become much easier to talk about my weight in units of tons.
"What are you all doing? Attack!"
As soon as I was thrown back, Ainar swung her adamantium greatsword.
[Ainar Fenelin has cast Wildness Control. All effects applicable to her next attack will be converted into Cutting Force.]
This was one of the various conversion-type skills that converted the effects of bonuses into Cutting Force upon landing a hit. And that was on top of the weight of the greatsword itself and the kinetic force of the downward strike.
Khak!
However, Ainar's greatsword only penetrated about half an inch into the monster's carapace, leaving a dent in the shell. Instead of interpreting this as a lack of ability on Ainar's part, it'd be more accurate to call that monster horrifying. It was not for nothing that he was called the Ogre of the Sea. His Physical Resistance was insane. Well, that didn't matter, though, because she wasn't our main damager.
"I'll be borrowing this." A second later, Amelia jumped off my shoulder and leaped, stabbing the shortsword into the monster's shoulder. The shortsword was covered in an aura that had the effect of disregarding Physical Resistance by 90 percent.
Stab!
Amelia's shortsword sank into the handle before coming out.
Shooot!
A dark green fluid shot from the wound due to the creature's blood pressure, but it wasn't a critical hit. This monster wasn't weak enough that a wound like that could hurt it or interfere with its ability to move, and also, it had high Regeneration.
Whoom!
The boss monster then slashed at Amelia with its sharp claws. It moved at easily twice my speed, but it wasn't fast enough to catch a true Agility-based fighter.
Dash.
As soon as Amelia evaded the monster's counterattack by stepping back, I closed the distance to avert a further rampage. The fact that I lacked the strength to mark him one-on-one wasn't a huge problem right now.
Pushhh.
I may have been the main tank, but it wasn't like I had to block him on my own. A single push of his spear may have been able to shove me back, but there were several other warriors here who could distract him from the sidelines.
"Shell lizard! Get away from Bjorn!"
I quickly fired off orders. "Missha, Patzran! You guys help too! Keep your distance and only approach when he's attacking me!"
This was the first priority for close-range damage dealers in a raid. As soon as the front line got set up according to my instructions, the battle began.
"Kwohhh!"
I was in charge of the big hits. If I got pushed back, the close-range damage dealers came in to distract him. Then, using that opening, I closed in on him again to attract aggro while Amelia attacked. We repeated this process over and over.
"The wound is already healing. Raven, start casting Aggravate! And tell us everything you know about this monster!"
Raven unleashed support magic while briefing us about the monster in real-time. "T-The ground! When the Storm Gush stomps its feet, you have to get far away! It does that when using a special ability called Eye of the Storm."
It wasn't enough information to be called a strategy, but even that tidbit was something I hadn't explained to my comrades beforehand. After all, how could I have given them a strategy? Even though I knew exactly which monster would show up thanks to the game, all they had known at that point was that the monster was rank three, and nothing else.
But since Raven knows about it, I won't need to step forward.
If Raven weren't here, I would have had to handle the briefing because things were way too dangerous for me to do my usual routine of pretending to learn as I went. In a fight with a monster like this, a single blow could lead to a fatal injury. For example...
[Storm Gush has cast Eye of the Storm.]
Yeah, like this thing that Raven just told us about.
Boom.
After the monster stomped the ground with its foot, within a second, a vortex with a radius of fifteen feet appeared and sucked everything in for five seconds.
Whiiip!
The wind pressure could even be felt from one step away.
"Get back!"
Just in case they got swept up in it, everyone took another step outside of the blast radius. Of course, I was the opposite.
Dash.
Instead of backing away, I thrust my body right into the whirlwind.
"B-Bjorn? Where arrre you going?!"
Because Eye of the Storm was an aurora-type skill, the whirlwind was centered around the monster, not the location where it was created. Put simply, if the monster decided to charge at us, the vortex would move with it, and there was a chance someone would get caught up in it. Someone had to take charge of blocking it just to be safe.
Whiiip!
As soon as I entered the vortex, the wind roared and surrounded my body, but it didn't suck me in toward the monster like a magnet.
[Your total weight is over 2000 lbs. Special ability Eye of the Storm has been bypassed.]
Yeah, it would have been weirder if this huge body could be blown away by a little wind.
Whip!
The real problem was him thrusting the trident at me in an environment where it was difficult to even open my eyes. To be honest, I didn't even see it coming.
Bang!
My hand moved of its own accord and blocked the spear. Was this a side effect of risking my safety over and over until today?
Wow, I managed to react to that?
Now, my body reacted before my head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I relied on intuition to block the spear three more times, and the whirlwind subsided before I knew it.
Okay, then I should be able to widen the distance now.
Dash.
When I moved back, I could hear Raven's shouts, which had been drowned out by the wind. "Mr. Yandel, what are you doing!? I just told you about that!"
It was a tongue-lashing meant for a teammate who refused to follow directions, but as a barbarian, I had only one thing to say to that. Since "I forgot" was a bit much even for me...
"Oh, sorry. I felt like I needed to do that."
You're the wizard, you should have been the first to tell me that heavy people might not get sucked in, so I should go inside and hold back the monster. Tsk, these local wizards. Don't your books explain basics like that?
To me, that was a travesty.
"Behel—aaah!" Soon, with Wild Outburst, my Physique stats jumped and I ran forward. If he overpowered me in terms of strength in our very first exchange, I would definitely be looked down on.
Kwaaang!
A few steps later, his trident struck my shield. "Heavy" wasn't a strong enough word to describe the blow.
So, even in this state, I'm outmatched.
Bumping into him flung my body back. I hadn't experienced that since receiving the passive skill Union with one of my Immortality Imprints. Not that it came with a knockback bonus or anything, but ever since my equipment started growing with me when I Giantized, it had become much easier to talk about my weight in units of tons.
"What are you all doing? Attack!"
As soon as I was thrown back, Ainar swung her adamantium greatsword.
[Ainar Fenelin has cast Wildness Control. All effects applicable to her next attack will be converted into Cutting Force.]
This was one of the various conversion-type skills that converted the effects of bonuses into Cutting Force upon landing a hit. And that was on top of the weight of the greatsword itself and the kinetic force of the downward strike.
Khak!
However, Ainar's greatsword only penetrated about half an inch into the monster's carapace, leaving a dent in the shell. Instead of interpreting this as a lack of ability on Ainar's part, it'd be more accurate to call that monster horrifying. It was not for nothing that he was called the Ogre of the Sea. His Physical Resistance was insane. Well, that didn't matter, though, because she wasn't our main damager.
"I'll be borrowing this." A second later, Amelia jumped off my shoulder and leaped, stabbing the shortsword into the monster's shoulder. The shortsword was covered in an aura that had the effect of disregarding Physical Resistance by 90 percent.
Stab!
Amelia's shortsword sank into the handle before coming out.
Shooot!
A dark green fluid shot from the wound due to the creature's blood pressure, but it wasn't a critical hit. This monster wasn't weak enough that a wound like that could hurt it or interfere with its ability to move, and also, it had high Regeneration.
Whoom!
The boss monster then slashed at Amelia with its sharp claws. It moved at easily twice my speed, but it wasn't fast enough to catch a true Agility-based fighter.
Dash.
As soon as Amelia evaded the monster's counterattack by stepping back, I closed the distance to avert a further rampage. The fact that I lacked the strength to mark him one-on-one wasn't a huge problem right now.
Pushhh.
I may have been the main tank, but it wasn't like I had to block him on my own. A single push of his spear may have been able to shove me back, but there were several other warriors here who could distract him from the sidelines.
"Shell lizard! Get away from Bjorn!"
I quickly fired off orders. "Missha, Patzran! You guys help too! Keep your distance and only approach when he's attacking me!"
This was the first priority for close-range damage dealers in a raid. As soon as the front line got set up according to my instructions, the battle began.
"Kwohhh!"
I was in charge of the big hits. If I got pushed back, the close-range damage dealers came in to distract him. Then, using that opening, I closed in on him again to attract aggro while Amelia attacked. We repeated this process over and over.
"The wound is already healing. Raven, start casting Aggravate! And tell us everything you know about this monster!"
Raven unleashed support magic while briefing us about the monster in real-time. "T-The ground! When the Storm Gush stomps its feet, you have to get far away! It does that when using a special ability called Eye of the Storm."
It wasn't enough information to be called a strategy, but even that tidbit was something I hadn't explained to my comrades beforehand. After all, how could I have given them a strategy? Even though I knew exactly which monster would show up thanks to the game, all they had known at that point was that the monster was rank three, and nothing else.
But since Raven knows about it, I won't need to step forward.
If Raven weren't here, I would have had to handle the briefing because things were way too dangerous for me to do my usual routine of pretending to learn as I went. In a fight with a monster like this, a single blow could lead to a fatal injury. For example...
[Storm Gush has cast Eye of the Storm.]
Yeah, like this thing that Raven just told us about.
Boom.
After the monster stomped the ground with its foot, within a second, a vortex with a radius of fifteen feet appeared and sucked everything in for five seconds.
Whiiip!
The wind pressure could even be felt from one step away.
"Get back!"
Just in case they got swept up in it, everyone took another step outside of the blast radius. Of course, I was the opposite.
Dash.
Instead of backing away, I thrust my body right into the whirlwind.
"B-Bjorn? Where arrre you going?!"
Because Eye of the Storm was an aurora-type skill, the whirlwind was centered around the monster, not the location where it was created. Put simply, if the monster decided to charge at us, the vortex would move with it, and there was a chance someone would get caught up in it. Someone had to take charge of blocking it just to be safe.
Whiiip!
As soon as I entered the vortex, the wind roared and surrounded my body, but it didn't suck me in toward the monster like a magnet.
[Your total weight is over 2000 lbs. Special ability Eye of the Storm has been bypassed.]
Yeah, it would have been weirder if this huge body could be blown away by a little wind.
Whip!
The real problem was him thrusting the trident at me in an environment where it was difficult to even open my eyes. To be honest, I didn't even see it coming.
Bang!
My hand moved of its own accord and blocked the spear. Was this a side effect of risking my safety over and over until today?
Wow, I managed to react to that?
Now, my body reacted before my head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I relied on intuition to block the spear three more times, and the whirlwind subsided before I knew it.
Okay, then I should be able to widen the distance now.
Dash.
When I moved back, I could hear Raven's shouts, which had been drowned out by the wind. "Mr. Yandel, what are you doing!? I just told you about that!"
It was a tongue-lashing meant for a teammate who refused to follow directions, but as a barbarian, I had only one thing to say to that. Since "I forgot" was a bit much even for me...
"Oh, sorry. I felt like I needed to do that."
You're the wizard, you should have been the first to tell me that heavy people might not get sucked in, so I should go inside and hold back the monster. Tsk, these local wizards. Don't your books explain basics like that?
To me, that was a travesty.