The Heibrun Subjugation (7)
Rumble—!
Jacques unleashed a torrent of demonic energy right before my eyes.
Watching him, I let my thoughts drift.
'Every single boss in Lost Elder is a pain to deal with.'
Simply depleting their HP wasn't enough. Each boss had unique conditions required to transition to the next phase, and the battle would only progress once those conditions were met.
Jacques von Heibrun was no exception.
What would happen if I killed him after a fierce, conventional battle? He would simply die a satisfied death, drunk on his corrupted power. He would meet a mundane end, fighting to his last breath before falling to his enemy's blade.
'Of course, right now it's relatively easy to deal with him because he hasn't even fully adapted to his mutated body yet...'
But the Jacques of the official history was different. In the game's canon, he had been given ample time to completely master his monstrous body before facing the player.
Just dealing with that form was overwhelming. There was a reason Jacques was considered one of the worst bosses in the base game.
Perhaps that was why, back when I was a newbie who had just started playing Lost Elder, I never even imagined Jacques had a second phase.
It was only around my thirtieth playthrough that I finally discovered the condition to trigger it.
'No-Hit.'
In other words, the condition triggered when you reduced his health by nearly thirty percent without taking a single hit throughout the entire fight.
The key here wasn't his HP, but wounding Jacques's pride. The moment he realized he couldn't even lay a finger on a single opponent despite making a contract with an evil god, he would be unable to bear the humiliation and sign a second contract.
'...Just like right now.'
Crack, snap!
The sound of bones shattering echoed from Jacques's body.
No, to be precise, they weren't shattering—they were restructuring. Becoming larger, more hideous, and far more powerful.
"Aaaagh!"
A monstrous shriek shook the wasteland.
Dark red energy swirled like a tempest, and at its center, the corrupted Jacques continued to mutate.
"That crazy bastard actually...!" Heukgol shouted, his voice laced with shock.
Heukgol was the only Sword Master permitted by the Elder to break the taboo and contract with an evil god. Because of this, he knew better than anyone what kind of price Jacques had to pay for that power.
"Are you insane?! Are you really going to sell your entire soul?!"
Yes. Jacques had offered everything to the evil god.
In other words, the human named Jacques von Heibrun no longer existed in this world. What stood before us was nothing but a puppet of the evil god.
'And...'
I knew very well that only those who offered everything to contract with an evil god left behind something special upon their death.
Normally, those who contracted with evil gods dropped nothing when they died. At best, they left behind contaminated equipment or cursed materials.
But it was a different story for contractors who sold their very souls. Peter Pan of Dawnguard and Camilo von Taribas were prime examples of this.
'The Trial of the Evil God.'
Unlike the Elder's trials, which tested a challenger's qualifications, this was a hardship that existed solely to bring death to the challenger. Only those who overcame this trial could obtain a special ability.
'And I...'
Sring—!
I slowly raised the Feather Sword.
'...must obtain the ability granted by Jacques's trial.'
Without that ability, the journey ahead would be far more treacherous. That was why I had planned all of this—provoking the heresy trial, gathering the Sword Masters, accelerating Jacques's corruption, and pushing him to reach his final phase.
Yes. Everything was for this single purpose.
Boom—!
As I was lost in thought, an ear-splitting explosion rang out. The demonic energy slowly dissipated, revealing Jacques von Heibrun, who had sacrificed everything to the evil god.
His transformation was finally complete.
"Ha..."
Pokryong let out a hollow laugh of disbelief at the sight.
"...Fuck, this is a bit much, don't you think?"
Rumble—
Jacques had always been massive, but now, calling him "huge" was an understatement.
His body loomed like a mountain range. Four grotesquely protruding arms stretched out in different directions, and his executioner's sword had grown even more colossal to match his new size.
However, what truly drew the eye was something else entirely.
It was the carapace covering his entire body.
Squirm!
It was hard to believe that the writhing, dark-red shell glowing with ominous light had once been armor forged for a holy paladin.
"Finally... I have finally obtained true power."
His voice was no longer human. A discordant harmony of multiple overlapping voices echoed in all directions.
It felt exactly like when I had faced Camilo von Heibrun.
Rumble—!
A suffocating pressure weighed down on the wasteland.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Notifications chimed continuously in my ears. At the same time, my vision instantly flushed crimson.
Your 'MAX' Willpower is resisting the opponent's pressure.
Your 'MAX' Willpower is resisting the opponent's pressure.
Your 'MAX' Willpower is resisting the opponent's pressure.
Your 'MAX' Willpower is resisting the opponent's pres...
"Damn it..."
Pokryong and Heukgol both furrowed their brows. Jacques's aura was just that terrifying.
Even Adelia, who had reached level 88, lost the strength in her legs and collapsed to her knees on the hill.
"Are you completely unaffected by this?" Pokryong asked, glancing at me.
"...Your willpower must be ridiculously high. Tsk."
Indeed. If my willpower hadn't been at its maximum, I would have certainly blacked out.
The demonic energy radiating from the corrupted Jacques was a disaster in its own right. The surrounding air turned a putrid dark red, and the parched wasteland cracked under the sheer weight of his presence.
Faced with this overwhelming presence, Pokryong gripped his giant flame sword, Pokyeomdo, tightly.
"To fight that thing, I guess we'll have to use that..."
"Yeah. There's no way we can take him head-on without it," Heukgol agreed with a grim expression.
The two Sword Masters exchanged glances, reaching a silent agreement to unleash their hidden trump cards.
"Hey, answer me. Is one strike still enough for that? Huh?" Heukgol sneered, turning to look at me.
It was a half-joking jibe, but there was genuine concern hidden beneath it.
Pokryong chimed in, agreeing with Heukgol.
"You need to show your full power now, Gaon."
"..."
"No excuses this time. We aren't far enough from the Holy City yet. If we play around and waste time, things could get dangerous."
Pokryong's voice was more serious than ever.
"If this bastard escapes and allies with other evil god worshippers, it'll be a disaster. You know that as well as I do."
Hearing Pokryong's words, I almost let out a dry laugh.
He had been so uncooperative before, but now that the situation had turned dire, he was suddenly acting like a model partner.
"We must kill him here, no matter what."
I gave a brief nod at Pokryong's words.
'Obviously.'
The moment Jacques escaped this place alive, all my plans would go down the drain. Not only would I miss out on the Trial he would drop, but I would also leave behind a seed of calamity that could bring about the end of the world.
Wasn't the whole reason I accelerated Jacques's corruption to eliminate him early right here?
Therefore, he had to meet his end in this very spot.
"I will activate my Transcendence Domain first," Pokryong began to strategize.
"It lasts for ten minutes. We need to kill him within that time if possible—"
"There's no need for that."
"...Huh?"
Step, step.
Cutting Pokryong off, I immediately began walking toward Jacques.
Pokryong stared at me, unable to hide his sheer bewilderment, while Heukgol shrieked in protest.
"Hey, you idiot! What are you doing?! Even if we coordinate and fight together, it might not be enough...!"
I ignored them.
I simply kept walking toward Jacques in silence.
"I don't need your help."
No, to be precise, I had already received enough help from Pokryong and Heukgol.
They had driven Jacques to this unsettled region far from the Holy City and helped force out his final phase.
Yes. Without the help of the two Sword Masters, I would never have made it this far.
'So...'
...Now, it was my turn to show them what a Sword Master could do.
"Bwahahaha!" Jacques burst into laughter.
"How arrogant, Gaon! You dare face me alone before this new power?!"
Whoosh, whoosh! Crackle!
His four arms raised four different weapons.
They were swords forged from demonic energy, modeled after his executioner's blade.
"Fine, Gaon! I shall break your arrogance first!"
I didn't answer. I simply took a deep breath.
Inhale.
The world fell silent.
No, it wasn't the world that had quieted, but my inner self. All stray thoughts vanished, leaving only a single purpose.
Exhale.
I let out all the air in my lungs.
In that instant, time stretched like taffy.
Thump.
The color drained from the world. The dark red demonic energy, the brown earth of the wasteland, the gray clouds in the sky—all of it faded.
Only shades of black and white remained.
And in that monochrome world, I saw a single line.
"..."
A line bisecting Jacques.
A line that did not yet exist, but soon would. A line where the past and future overlapped.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and the afterimage of that line burned against the pitch-black darkness.
MP: 1/1
Tick.
MP: 0/1
How should I describe that moment?
I swung my sword. No, the sword moved on its own.
The moment my will and the sword's will became one, it was no longer possible to distinguish the wielder from the weapon.
There was no storm. No roar. Not even a gust of wind blew.
"..."
As I slowly opened my eyes,
color returned,
and time resumed.
Just as everything reverted to normal—
"What...?"
A voice drifted from behind me.
At some point, Jacques von Heibrun had ended up standing behind my back.
Crack.
It was then that a thin line running through his body appeared.
Crack, crackle!
At first, it was a fissure thinner than a strand of hair, but as time passed, the gap began to widen.
Slowly.
Bit by bit.
Crash—!
Soon after, his massive body split cleanly in two and collapsed.
The cut was astonishingly smooth.
But that only lasted for a moment.
Spurt—!
Dark red blood erupted like a fountain.
His regeneration, his hard carapace, the power he had gained from contracting with the evil god... all of it was completely neutralized by a single strike.
"...?"
"...?"
A terrifying silence fell over the area.
While Heukgol and Pokryong, the two Sword Masters, stared at me with utterly blank expressions...
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Only the chiming of notifications in my ears broke the silence of the world.