“「Triplet Maximize Magic — Reality Slash」!”
Momonga could feel the boss turning on him now that his hate had gone up. Or rather, it was only to be expected after hitting it with three maximized 10th-tier attack spells at the same time.
The boss closed in swiftly, but it was exactly as Bukubukuchagama had predicted. It was natural to expect the enemy to attack someone who attacked it.
The proof of this was that Bukubukuchagama did not rush over to him, but reapplied an expired buff instead. This was because she firmly believed that Momonga could deal with it, and could respond as a player should.
“Death Knight!”
He sent a command to the Death Knight with a macro. The Death Knight roared, and took on the hate that should have been borne by Momonga.
At the same time, in accordance with the orders given, the Death Knight ran to Bukubukuchagama.
The boss paused, and turned on the incoming Death Knight.
Its attack swung down on the Death Knight.
It went without saying that given the gigantic level difference, the Death Knight should have been destroyed.
That was what should have happened if a level 90 being attacked a level 35 opponent, unless the attacker held back a lot. However, the Death Knight’s skill activated. It took the hit and survived with 1 HP remaining, and continued running toward the frontliners. Or rather, it tried to run — the boss’ next blow obliterated the Death Knight.
However, it had fulfilled its purpose.
“You’re the best, Death Knight-kun! Now look at me, you son of a bitch!”
Bukubukuchagama raised her gelid arms, probably trying to get the boss to target her. The boss, which had been planning to charge the others, changed its target to her.
All these were the movements of the switch attack, which Momonga was skilled at executing.
“Push it!”
“R!”
“R!”
The boss raised its freezing axe, and used the 「Neptune Lightstorm」, which Momonga had already experienced before. As he shielded the other backliners with his body, he dispelled the debuffs on the frontliners.
This was when the boss began attacking in earnest.
Until now the boss had followed up all its skills up with simple auto-attacks. However, at this stage, it was using its skills back to back.
Was it because it was low on HP?
The implication here was that it would summon the Primal Elementals after using each skill once. In other words, they were running out of time.
Can we deplete its HP fast enough?
Despite his growing anxiety, Momonga operated his console with speed and precision. This was what they meant when they said “the frontline was a sports meet, while the backline was a theatre performance.”
A single mistake would disrupt his rhythm.
Momonga groaned as he thought of the boss’ attacks and watched its movements. They might not be able to beat it in time.
However—
“—How about it? Can we kill it in one shot?”
“I’m in range! We can do it! Everyone, we’re going for the Bright King Combo!”
“Ohhh! I’ll leave it to you.”
“Roger! Then let me begin! 「Sacrifice」!”
The boss hit Bukubukuchagama, who had both her arms spread wide. Bukubukuchagama took a huge amount of damage, even through her extremely high defense. At the same time, a black mist enveloped the boss.
After that, Bukubukuchagama activated the 「Aegis」 skill. HP restoration should have been Yamaiko’s job, but they no longer had the time for that. All she could do was minimize her damage taken and try to push through this with her current HP.
Momonga cast a spell, targeting it on Nishiki Enrai.
“「Conflict Karma」!”
Yamaiko watched as Momonga cast his buff, then crushed the hourglass-like cash item in her hand, instantly activating her super-tier spell.
“「Judgement of Osiris」[18]!”
Scales appeared over the heads of everyone on the battlefield.
On one side was a heart, and on the other was a feather.
Yamaiko, Nishiki Enrai and Warrior Takemikazuchi’s scales pended down on the feather’s side. In contrast, Momonga, Ulbert, Bukubukuchagama, and the boss’ scales weighed down on the heart’s side. In that moment, the heart was promptly devoured by a beast that appeared out of nowhere.
Momonga was not hurt.
However, his karma value plummeted, reaching -1000 in an instant.
This super-tier spell could manipulate karma values — it reduced negative values, and increased positive ones.
Karma values affected the damage inflicted by certain spells and skills. The reason Yamaiko cast this spell went without saying — it was to intensify the effects of the combo which relied on karmic imbalance.
Warrior Takemikazuchi was all smiles as he began the Combo.
“Here I go! 「Acalanatha」! 「Fudo Kensaku」!”
The form of The Immovable One, Fudo Myo-o, appeared behind Warrior Takemikazuchi, casting forth a lariat from his hand.
The first blow of the Bright King Combo, 「Acalanatha」, had two attack components. The first, the 「Kurikara Sword」, did more damage the lower its opponent’s karma score was. Without the appropriate countermeasures, it would be fatal. The second was the 「Fudo Kensaku」, which reduced the evasive abilities of opponents with low karma values. This decrease was directly proportional to the amount of negative karma its target had.
Perhaps the boss’ karma was never that high to begin with, but Bukubukuchagama’s skill made sure of that.
Bukubukuchagama’s 「Sacrifice」 greatly decreased defensive power, but in exchange the damaged party’s karma dropped to the absolute minimum. And then, Yamaiko’s super-tier spell lowered it even further.
“「Trailokyavijayarāja」!”
The Conqueror of Three Planes, Gozanze Myo-o appeared behind him as well and ran the boss through with his lance.
“「Yamāntaka」!”
After that, The Defeater of Death, Daiitoku Myo-o materialized, smiting the boss with his massive club.
“「Kundali」!”
The Dispenser of Heavenly Nectar, Gundari Myo-O released a serpent from his hand, which suddenly expanded and coiled around the boss, further locking it in place. If this was not done, the boss might be able to escape its bindings in the delay between strikes.
“「Vajrayaksa」!”
The Devourer of Demons, Kongo-Yasha Myo-O, mauled the boss with his electrically-charged vajra-sword.
And then, while the boss could not evade, the five Wisdom Kings charged it. They surrounded him and as one, they took stances which pointed their palms at him.
Their foe would not be able to move if it had so much as one point of negative karma.
“Ossha!”
Nishiki Enrai switched out his weapon in that moment.
This was his trump card, Susanoo. It was a weapon that was over three meters long, and due to various penalties, it swung very slowly. However, that hardly mattered when his opponent could not move. Perhaps it was a loophole in the system, or a deliberate decision by the developers, but the attack power of this gigantic ninjato far surpassed that of even a special being like this boss.
The instant that slow-moving blade touched the boss, a frightening series of damage numbers that looked like they came from a multi-part attack spewed forth.
Momonga could not help but laugh as the boss’ HP went down in his eyes.
And then—
— Cracks appeared all over the boss’ body.
Light flowed out from between the gaps, followed by a great explosion.
Momonga was stunned for a moment, and then the overflowing joy in his heart made him cry out.
This might be a game, but jubilation from overcoming a great difficulty was universal. Nor was he the only one rejoicing. The other members of the party, who had beaten this dungeon alongside him, were cheering as well.
18
The kanji reads オシリスの 裁き/Judgement of Osiris, the furigana is ペルト エム ヘルウ/Prt M Hrw/Going out in Daylight, part of the name of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.