Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Raid-Level Boss Monster
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Raid-level boss monsters.
Those very things, disasters in their own right, were designed so no single player could take them down alone.
Temples, mercenary guilds, empires or kingdoms.
Players who had built up their forces by reaching the end of faction quests.
Kwaaaang!
Hunting them with those forces in tow—that was what raid monsters were.
It felt like the world had been plunged into darkness with the black explosion.
The Titan's fist clashing against the massive Dark Needle.
Thud.
It was astonishing.
A single individual's power had halted the Titan's fist, if only for a moment.
But they mustn't forget.
That the enemy here wasn't just the Titan.
Shrieeeek!
A light arrow came flying in.
Kaang!
The barrier conjured by the Immortal's black mage barely deflected it.
If it had been even a fraction slower, the Immortal commander who had fired the Dark Needle might have been injured.
'So it was that guy.'
The hood fluttered off.
Sein could now see the Immortal's commander.
'Felpero Immortal.'
The first offspring of the Immortals he had tangled with during the demon clan incident.
The master-class black mage he had first properly clashed against.
"Sacred Iron Knights—!"
Blackgreen shouted.
"Nothing changes—! Take out the heretics first!"
The Sacred Iron Knights charged forward with a yell.
And in that gap.
Whoooosh!
The Titan's fist tore through the air itself as it came crashing down.
Kwaaaang!
The ground exploded, fissures cracking open.
The exploding earth.
Thwack!
Blackgreen leaped right onto it, swinging his massive greatsword toward Felpero.
A gleaming blade.
Felpero stood before it.
Kaang!
But Blackgreen's sword failed to cleave Felpero in two.
Six Demoruses had appeared out of nowhere.
The moment they crossed their swords to block.
"We've got him. Immortal."
Jagar appeared in an instant behind Blackgreen.
His dagger, twisting like his very eyes, aimed to slip into the gap in Felpero's armor.
"Hraaah!"
Blackgreen bellowed with a shout, holy light bursting from his body.
Paaang!
Everything enveloping Blackgreen repelled outward like opposing magnetic poles.
'Holy Domain.'
The paladin's signature skill had finally revealed itself.
"Tch."
The darksiders pulled back, beginning to regroup.
Of course, even as that happened.
Kwaaaang!
The Titan kept swinging its fist, upheaving the earth's surface.
'It hasn't fully activated yet.'
Right now, all it could move was its fist.
In the meantime.
'I've got to settle this somehow.'
Sein had been watching the entire situation unfold.
And now, at last, it was time for him to join the fray.
"Great Angel—"
A chanting voice.
"Bless your servant."
The Sacred Iron Knights.
And.
"Krahahahaha!"
Radiance began to settle upon Blackgreen's body.
"See that?"
Blackgreen laughed heartily, pointing his greatsword at the darksiders.
"The Saint is with us!"
"……!"
"Saint?"
The unfamiliar pair.
He had wondered who they were, but saints?
If it had come from anyone else, he would have dismissed it as nonsense.
Not even the rumored saintess, but a saint?
But when a paladin said it, that changed everything.
They locked eyes, the two darksiders.
No words needed; their thoughts aligned.
Kwaaaang!
The Titan's fist slammed down, exploding the ground and blinding everyone.
In that moment.
Tatat!
Demorus moved first.
If that guy over there really was a saint, they had to eliminate him first.
But.
Whoooosh!
The incoming sword wind forced Demorus's elites and Jagar to stagger.
"Did you think you could surpass me?"
*
*
*
It was a spectacle.
If he could record this and upload it online, hitting a million subscribers would be a breeze.
No—considering Sanctuary's hundreds of millions of players, he might even snag the diamond button.
Kwaaaang!
The ground exploding at regular intervals.
The wind pressure from the Titan's fist.
Amid it all.
Kakakakang!
A battle raging like madness.
It went beyond mere acrobatics.
Near-miraculous feats.
They leaped off fragments of earth, channeling power into sword and body.
Kwaaaang!
Even then, they had to maintain mana balance to unleash maximum power.
Kwaaaaang!
And keep their auras steady.
At first, the darksiders held the advantage.
"Dark Needle."
"Dark Boom."
Even as black mages, a mage's presence on the battlefield brought overwhelming benefits.
The ability to harass foes from range at key moments was simply too great.
Thud!
Were the darksiders on good terms before? They made excellent use of each other regardless.
When Jagar lost his footing and began to fall.
"Dark Needle."
He planted his foot on a Dark Needle that appeared beneath him.
Blackgreen shot toward him like an arrow to finish the job, swinging his sword—but Jagar leaped down without hesitation.
Kwaang!
The Dark Needle Jagar had stepped on detonated.
Linkage with the mage.
One might think a holy knight could only flail helplessly against that.
Kwaaaaa—!
But his opponent was a paladin.
"Insane."
Holy Domain.
A paladin forms a zone around himself protected by holy power.
Impure energies weaken within it, while holy energies amplify.
And while the Holy Domain is active.
Shwaaa—!
Proof of divine selection.
"Paladin…."
He could manifest angelic wings.
In the blink of an eye.
Whoooosh!
Blackgreen's massive frame appeared right in front of him, swinging his enormous greatsword.
If Sein were in the darksiders' shoes, he would have thought:
Titan, and paladin.
'Two raid bosses.'
Kaaang!
One-third of the darksiders were tied down by Blackgreen.
Kwaaaang!
At least fifteen master-class fighters.
Numerical superiority and the variables from the Titan.
If they could spot even the slightest opening in that.
"Angel—"
That damn saint bastard would butt in.
The saint was the problem.
The Sacred Iron Knights, excluding Blackgreen, weren't particularly exceptional—so they should have been cleaned up by now.
"Angel—"
Heh.
But that crazy saint bastard made even that difficult.
At this rate, they might wear themselves out in a pointless battle of attrition and lose.
-Jagar.
Felpero messaged Jagar.
-The saint seems real, but no one knew of his existence.
Kakakang!
Blocking Blackgreen's surging sword aura, Jagar listened intently to Felpero.
-Also, the saint's records are likely severed, so he's probably not fully formed yet.
What are you getting at?
Jagar's face seemed to say.
-I'll create an opening. Demorus, you take out the saint.
An opening.
Against paladin Blackgreen, where they were barely holding on, the idea sounded ridiculous.
But both Jagar and Felpero hailed from the main house.
The main lineage, secrets passed only to them.
"Blessing Release."
They knew how to fight in the darkness.
*
*
*
Sein observed the battle, deploying his abilities precisely where needed.
'Paladin.'
To gauge the combat power a paladin born in this era could muster.
'Darksiders.'
To uncover secrets of the darksiders he didn't yet know.
And honestly, he was surprised.
'They're fighting this well.'
The paladin was a monster through and through.
Yet the darksiders were holding their own against that monster in unison.
'Was that snake bastard this good?'
Jagar's skill was utterly unexpected.
For a moment, Sein almost understood why the three elite forces or other Demoruses looked down on candidate stock.
Even more so.
'Why is that bastard fighting so well?'
Felpero was no different.
And another shocking point: their physical stats—their very bodies—were growing stronger even now.
Endless stamina.
Kwaang!
Blackgreen's once-unshakable sword began to yield, if only slightly.
"Grant us great power."
Sein's adjustments kept the balance tipped toward Blackgreen, but without him, they would have struggled far more.
And now.
"……."
At last, the darksiders pulled out their hidden trump card.
Kwaaaang!
The ground exploded once more under the Titan's fist.
Lost vision.
When it cleared.
"Blessing Release."
Felpero stood there, eyes dyed black.
"……!"
Mana surging in an instant.
"Dark Spear."
Casting speed.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
Destructive power beyond compare to before.
Blackgreen, who hadn't faltered under Sein's blessing, staggered for the first time.
"Hiding something like that."
Sein muttered in surprise.
And.
Taht!
Jagar moved.
Blackgreen hastily raised his sword, chanting a divine word.
Holy power poured out to seize Jagar's ankle—but.
"Dark Spear."
Felpero's incantation sent it flying, striking the greatsword's flat and shaking Blackgreen.
Intentional?
Bad luck?
Whoooosh—! Kwaaaang!
Meanwhile, another Titan fist crashed down, forcing Blackgreen to let Jagar slip past.
"Saint!"
Blackgreen cried urgently, but he had no opening.
"Dark Spear."
Dozens, hundreds of Dark Spears.
They flew at once toward Blackgreen.
And.
"Dodge—!"
Toward the Sacred Iron Knights.
The battlefield had gone mad.
A single momentary lapse became a fatal weakness here.
Tatat!
Jagar raced in at high speed, bounding over the exploding ground.
He was clearly gunning for Sein.
Swish.
Marsil—no, Cecil—stepped forward.
"It's fine."
Sein pushed Cecil aside.
It might be a valuable experience for her too.
Kwaaaang!
But even so, he was the one who should handle this.
The explosion erupted right in front of Sein.
It was merely the beginning.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Knowing time was short, Jagar poured his mana into his twisting dagger, stabbing and slashing relentlessly.
But the retreating Jagar would know.
"……."
All those attacks were futile.