Warrior Takemikazuchi and Nishiki Enrai began using their unbalancing skills, Momonga and the others coordinated with them and cast debilitating spells on the boss as well.
A prickly sensation hung in the air — about 15 seconds later, the boss swung its weapons, as though remembering that it had forgotten to attack while its defense rose. The sense of relief that came from disrupting the boss was replaced by the pressure of knowing that the boss was going to make its move.
“「Lunar Sword」.”
The air pressure from the strikes turned into slashing shockwaves which tore through the air. It made no difference whether one was in the sky or on the ground, there was no hiding from it.
“「Wall of Jericho」.”
Bukubukuchagama used her area-defense skill to become a wall behind which everyone could hide. Even so, she had still been heavily hit. It was unclear whether unbalancing the enemy meant that they had taken less damage, or if the damage taken was evenly distributed throughout the group, or if they had taken damage at all because they failed to evade the attack.
As he was being healed, Momonga went to his console and looked over his spells, at the same time considering how to proceed given the attack they had just taken. Now that the boss had lost quite a bit of HP, its attack patterns were becoming more aggressive. There was a chance it might use that attack repeatedly.
In the meantime, the boss’ HP was decreasing steadily. Although the boss had abnormally high HP, the attackers’ firepower was more than up to the task.
Suddenly, the boss pointed its bow to the sky and drew it back. There was no way of telling how it would attack since it had not used its bow and arrow before now. They hindered it as much as possible, and let the backliners take care of the boss’ target.
Should I have checked the bow’s element? Momonga thought as he clicked his tongue.
“「Saturn Meteor」.”
The boss fired toward the sky. The arrow flew to the ceiling, and an inky black void appeared — the void of space — which swallowed it without a trace.
The sudden void expanded to cover the entire battlefield. It would seem that the range of this attack was as large as the previous one.
Momonga immediately selected 「Wall of Skeleton」 from the control console, deploying it above himself like an umbrella.
“Momonga-san, let me in!”
Ulbert, the offensive specialist, had to conserve every scrap of MP he had. Thus, he ran over. Yamaiko was in a similar situation as well.
“「Field of Force」.”
“「Sanctuary Protection」.”
As Yamaiko put up another layer of protection, Momonga cast yet another defensive spell. This was because they had no idea what kind of attack was coming next.
Just then, a shrill screech rang through the air, and countless meteors flew through the air at them.
The initial impact shattered the 「Wall of Skeleton」 which had been further reinforced by the 「Sanctuary Protection」. After that, the shockwave broke the 「Field of Force」 and damaged Momonga, far more than the previous 「Lunar Sword」 had. Half of his previously full HP bar vanished in an instant.
However, that was the end of the attack, and Momonga was still alive. Nobody had died, and Bukubukuchagama still had more than half her HP left.
If the tank was fine, they could still fight.
Yamaiko used a powerful skill to heal everyone quickly. However, this did not include Momonga, since normal curative methods did not work on him.
In addition, Yamaiko’s big skill spread its healing among its targets, so there was no benefit for including Momonga.
If Momonga took another attack from the boss, he would die. Therefore, Momonga watched the boss’ movements as he made a Death Knight and had it await orders. If the boss attacked the weakened Momonga, he would use the Death Knight as a shield.
“I’ll heal you, Momonga-san!”
After healing everyone else, Yamaiko announced her next move to the vanguards and then cast 「Greater Lethal」 on Momonga. While Momonga was healing up, the frontliners stopped attacking and took defensive stances, healing their wounds with potions. This was so that they did not complicate the hate management.
All the weapons the boss was holding rose into the air, orbiting around it.
Given these special effects, there was no doubt that it was preparing for something big.
“To think you have made it this far! It appears I have underestimated you! In that case! Come forth, my minions!”
The floating weapons arranged themselves into the points of a five-pointed star, and then thrust themselves into the ground. Five monsters appeared from those places.
Level 87: Primal Fire Elemental
Level 87: Primal Water Elemental
Level 87: Primal Air Elemental
Level 87: Primal Earth Elemental
Level 90: Primal Star Elemental
Each of them was the same size of the boss, and they were monsters of equivalent level to Momonga and the others.
The six of them, including the boss, would surely crush the party into a paste.
Momonga laughed.
He had not expected the boss to be this powerful.
We might have gotten the sequence wrong. The boss in this arena is the kind which won’t relent right until the end.
“Or are you saying the other bosses are this strong? If that’s the case… then we made the right decision.”
As though answering Momonga’s muttering, a man’s voice gave a great cry:
“Roar, my secret arcana! Descend, o ultimate disaster! Flow, ye tears of despair and regret! — 「Grand Catastrophe」!”
This speech, which was completely unlike his usual style — incidentally, the preamble before the spell name was different each time — was the naked expression of his soul.
When Ulbert Alain Odle mastered the class of World Disaster, he gained this power, which outstripped the might of even super-tier spells. It was an ultimate move which required 60 % of his MP.
The fallen leaves of the world tree had a malice of their own, and now that curse was given a physical form. Pure destructive energy surged through the battlefield.
The five elementals, which should have been at full health, were instantly annihilated. The boss itself lost an alarming amount of HP.
At the same time, Ulbert ran toward the boss.
Thanks to the hate generated by 「Grand Catastrophe」, the boss would not stop attacking until it hit Ulbert at least once.
As though to switch with him, Bukubukuchagama ran to the back.
In the moment where Ulbert was hit by the boss, Bukubukuchagama — who had run to the back — immediately exchanged places with him.
A text box reading 「Transposition」 popped up from Bukubukuchagama, and then vanished.
The boss’ weapons returned to its hands.
It might be that the boss would lose access to a weapon as long as its corresponding elemental was on the field. In that case, it might have been better to leave the appropriate elementals alive — possibly two of them, one left-hand and one right-hand weapon — but of course they could not know that on a first encounter.
“‘「Solar Flare」.”
The boss opened up on Bukubukuchagama with the move it had first used.
“Everyone! Kill it quickly! It’s starting its rotation again!” Bukubukuchagama shouted.
Now that Ulbert had used his trump card, they had no way to beat the elementals quickly if the enemy summoned them again. In other words, they would be defeated. Therefore, they had to bring it down before that.
There was no reason to hold back now.