Chapter 228 - Reversal (4)

[Dungeon and Stone] has a few Essences tailored to specific races. The [Spirit Form] Erwin just used is a prime example. If a human with no spirits to command uses it, all they get is a non-elemental spiritual body. Even its skill scaling is based on Elemental, or Nature Power, the resource used to control spirits. In practice, it’s an elf-exclusive Essence.

Dirt crumbles off every time I move my arms. I feel like a rock giant. Though, on second thought, maybe “giant” isn’t quite right?

'Man, I’m itching to use [Gigantification].'

It’s a shame I can’t see that magnificent sight, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

I dash forward with quick footfalls, putting my regrets aside.

[“GUWEEEEGH!”]

At that instant, the corpse monster carrying the Clown spews venom from its mouth. I take it head-on without even raising my shield. Elebaba (Earth) Mode is immune to poison, after all.

“Oh, right. That was one of its effects, wasn’t it?”

Sure enough, this bastard must have cleared the cheat version too. He only realizes what state I’m in after seeing it for himself. But he remains unruffled.

“Well, you did use your head a little. Heh.”

The Clown laughs despite having his main source of damage, poison, shut down. Fair enough. He isn’t just a poison necromancer—he’s an Agi poison necro.

He hops down from his corpse monster and retreats with quick steps. I’m running at full speed too, but the distance between us keeps growing. It’s because of Elebaba (Earth)’s penalty.

「Agility is greatly reduced.」

My body feels at least twice as slow. Under the circumstances, this is actually the biggest penalty—worse than taking double water damage or having my Mana resistance drastically reduced.

“What? Didn’t expect this?”

The moment his poison stops working, he abandons close combat and starts keeping his distance. Something a proud bastard would never do.

But...

'Why do you think I turned off [Gigantification]?'

A top-tier explorer known as the Corpse Collector, running from a rank-five barbarian?

I knew you’d do that, you bastard.

'Leap.'

I recite the skill’s name in my head and kick off the ground.

[“Eek!”]

Erwin, now a spiritual body unable to stray more than five meters from me, gets dragged along as though someone’s yanking her by the hair. I feel a little bad, but...

'Looks like my maximum range is about thirty meters.'

I calmly assess my current condition. Considering I could jump seventy meters even during [Gigantification], that’s a drastic reduction. It drives home just how heavy this body is. If I were using [Gigantification], I probably wouldn’t even manage half that distance. Still, the speed itself is about the same.

“VEHELLLAAAAAA!!”

As a movement skill should, it closes the gap in an instant.

BOOOOM!

The ground ripples outward from my landing point.

The visual effect is the same as before, but there’s one clear difference. The massive corpse monster that hadn’t budged earlier...

[“Gweh?”]

...can no longer hold its ground and rises into the air.

「The character’s total weight is at least 1,000 kg.」

Yeah, looks like I’m heavier than you now. As for the visibly scrawny Clown, that goes without saying.

“...!”

His body lifts into the air, still posed mid-backstep.

Before he can come down, I lumber forward to close the gap and take a stance as if I’m about to swing a baseball bat. Our eyes meet while he’s still airborne. No matter how I look at him, he doesn’t seem to be smiling. That hurts my feelings.

“Crack a smile.”

No answer comes back. Fine, if you don’t want to, I can’t make you. Guess I’ll have to do the cracking myself.

WHOOOSH!

I time my mace swing to split his fucking skull open. At that moment, thick bone sprouts over his skin.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Bone Armor].」

[Bone Armor]. The very same skill that blocked Mister Bear’s ultimate move with barely any damage when we first met. Still, I’m not particularly worried.

Outlaw of the Barren Lands is still active. There’s Elebaba (Earth)’s destruction bonus for blunt weapons. And on top of that, [Swing], imbued with the soul of an Ogre. No matter how well he’s built his synergies, there’s no way a rank-four skill can block this.

CRAAACK!

The moment my mace connects, [Bone Armor] shatters like a walnut under a hammer, exposing the tender flesh beneath.

“Erwin!”

Erwin, flying around in her spiritual body, fires a flaming arrow. As always, she aims right between the eyes.

BOOOM!

The flaming arrow lodges in his mask and explodes.

But is that mask a piece of equipment too? Our first clean hit is blocked by it and fails to do much damage.

TAP.

The Clown, still flying from the force of the impact, regains his balance and lands. That’s when it happens.

CLATTER.

Hairline cracks spread like a spiderweb across the mask before it breaks into pieces. I look at him and smirk. Oh, so that’s what you look like.

“You’re fucking ugly.”

It’s a face that would have made that little dragon Fen recoil in horror. Did I touch a nerve?

“You fucking moronic NPCs don’t know a goddamn thing!”

High praise comes pouring out.

* * *

He stops playing the clown. Dropping his trademark exaggerated theatrical delivery, he talks like any ordinary piece-of-shit explorer.

“Don’t think this ends with you simply dying.”

Hmm, that’s what that Dragonslayer bastard said. Something about how not even death could save me.

“I’ll inflict pain you can’t even imagine.”

Are lines like that all the rage in Orculus?

I don’t know, but with all this high praise pouring out, the fight keeps going smoothly. Naturally.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Puppet].」

A necro’s real strength lies in overwhelming numbers. But most of his corpse legion is fighting our main force, and huge numbers of them have already died. This bastard probably doesn’t have much MP left either. Above all, I have a far better matchup.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Curse of Stone].」

A curse to stop my charge? As long as it’s an earth-element skill, it’s meaningless.

'Yep, I’m Elebaba.'

No matter how sharply the penalty reduces my Mana resistance, my Earth Resistance easily grants me immunity.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Bone Armor].」

I counter [Bone Armor] with [Swing].

CRACK!

Every time I peel away his shell, Erwin, following beside me in her spiritual body, plants an arrow in him.

THUNK!

The damage steadily piles up as the fight continues.

[“GRRAAAAGH!”]

The Clown starts pulling elite corpses with high individual combat power out of subspace and focusing their attacks on Erwin. It’s an excellent call. Once Erwin takes a certain amount of damage, Elebaba Mode ends too. From then on, I’ll start taking poison damage again.

But...

'Okay, so you don’t have any mages?'

His summons are built entirely around poison and physical damage. That makes it impossible for them to hurt Erwin, who gets the bonus of physical damage immunity.

Well, I do occasionally spot elite corpses carrying elemental weapons, but...

CRUNCH!

I smash them before they can approach. Of course, stopping all of them alone would be difficult. But I didn’t come here alone.

“Der Tu Teiran!”

Raven protects Erwin, pushing enemies back with Gust or deploying Mana Shield when that won’t work.

'Mages really are the best for utility.'

For the record, the rest of the team follows at a distance, focusing solely on protecting Raven. Ideal teamwork, with everyone protecting one another.

“How long do you think you can keep this up?!”

He spits blood-tinged saliva and more high praise. But there’s too much truth in that praise to just laugh it off.

'... Slippery bastard.'

The fight itself seems to be going our way, but we’re the ones pressed for time. Even if we minimize the damage Erwin takes, Elebaba Mode will eventually end. Besides, I don’t know how much longer Kyle can hold out.

'Whew, I need to finish this before the Scholar of Destruction gets here.'

My impatience grows as time passes.

Becoming an earth-element barbarian has drastically increased my Physical Resistance, but my Mana resistance has dropped in proportion. One proper spell would be more than my own body could withstand, never mind Erwin. That goes double for water attacks, which deal twice the damage. If it weren’t for the Scholar of Destruction in the first place, I’d have brought just my team here long ago instead of forming a detached unit over a hundred strong.

“... The corpses are withdrawing!”

To make matters worse, he starts putting the surrounding corpses into subspace one by one. This is a huge problem. Sure, it does make things much easier for my companions following behind me, but...

CRACK!

[Bone Armor], which used to shatter in a single hit, now holds out for two. The damage bonus from Outlaw of the Barren Lands has decreased.

“Right, so that was it after all?”

Ha, this is why I hate Player bastards. I hid it so not even a glimmer of light escaped, and he still figured it out. The corners of the Clown’s eyes curve into long crescents.

“Don’t smile. You’re ugly.”

“... Once this is over, I’m ripping out that tongue first.”

Go ahead and try.

“VEHELLLAAAAAA!!”

Roaring, I press him even harder.

He resists fiercely. Perhaps acknowledging me as a worthy opponent, he even uses an Essence the public doesn’t know about.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Instance of Immortality].」

A skill belonging to the rank-three monster Deathlord.

FWOOSH!

Black flames engulf him, burning away his clothes and skin until only bones remain. He looks just like a Lich.

'No wonder he wasn’t wearing any real armor.'

I’d considered the possibility, but to think he really has this skill too. The effect of [Instance of Immortality] is very simple. For one minute, he cannot die no matter what, and his Mental and Ability stats are converted into Physical stats.

'A top-tier explorer with everything dumped into Physical stats...'

I swallow hard but speak nonchalantly.

“You’re much better-looking now.”

He doesn’t even answer. He simply charges, clacking his skeletal jaw in irritation.

BOOM!

A simple shove. That’s all it takes to push my body back—the same body whose [Rebound] sent even that corpse monster airborne. Whew, just how high did his Strength go?

Fortunately, my Physical Resistance keeps me from taking damage, but...

'Fuck.'

The same doesn’t apply to my companions. It’s painfully obvious that even basic attacks from that monstrous body would drop them one after another. Which is why...

“Everyone, fall back!”

The situation reverses in an instant. Instead of stopping him from running away, now I have to hold him off.

With quick footfalls, the Clown shoves me aside and launches into a mindless charge. The gap opens in the blink of an eye. What is he, some max-level skeleton?

I kick off and quickly catch up with [Leap].

BOOM!

My landing sends him airborne with [Rebound], but it barely even buys time. I wrap him in a tight embrace as he falls, yet he easily breaks free in a single second and continues charging. An instant is all it takes for disaster to strike.

“Aynar!!”

Aynar blocks his fist, only to go flying with her adamantium greatsword still in her hands and crash into Mister Bear. And then...

BOOM!

Misha takes a blow to the stomach and collapses.

Raven hastily raises a stone wall with magic, but a single punch smashes it. His goal is obvious. He intends to use his remaining time to eliminate the mage who’s been the biggest nuisance first.

“Protect Raven!!”

No sooner do I shout while following with [Leap] than he dashes again, ignoring the unconscious Misha.

THUD!

A single punch forcibly unsummons Iron Bear, our tank summon.

“Eek!”

Raven, who was riding Iron Bear, flies into the air. Before she even hits the ground, another fist swings toward her.

“...!”

Mister Bear catches Raven by the back of her collar just in time and pulls her away. At that moment...

BOOOM!

I land, sending the bastard airborne again.

In the meantime, I use [Gigantification] and lie facedown over my fallen companions. Mister Bear and Daria promptly scramble underneath, apparently understanding my plan.

BOOM! BOOM!

The bastard lands and starts pounding my back as if to crush us all at once.

Will they be okay?

“Ugh...”

No, I don’t think they will. Honestly, I thought this might work.

'Plan B.'

Changing my mind in less than five seconds, I spring up and punch him in the head. Apparently caught off guard, he goes flying backward despite his incredible physical stats. Right, the best defense is a good offense. I launch myself over his body as if diving.

And...

“VEHELLLAAAAAA!!!”

I pin him beneath my overwhelming weight and hold on for dear life.

Even he seems to struggle with a giant Elebaba’s weight, taking several seconds to laboriously throw me off. So how much time is left—

“... Damned barbarian.”

Right, it’s over now. Ha, I really thought we were all going to die.

Flesh grows back over his bones, leaving him naked. I glare at him and smirk.

“Small.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel some sympathy, but that doesn’t count as a mitigating circumstance.

I immediately dash forward and swing my mace at him. As expected, [Bone Armor] erupts around him.

CRACK!

Perhaps because I’m using [Gigantification], it shatters in a single blow. Erwin doesn’t miss the opening and fires an arrow.

“...!”

She aims for his head, but true to his Agility build, he rolls out of the way. Still, the arrow hits his leg.

'Nice.'

With a hole in his leg, even this cockroach of a bastard should slow down a little. I quickly dash again. That’s when it happens.

「The character has insufficient Magic Power.」

「[Gigantification] ends.」

My MP runs dry, and my body shrinks. Well, it was about time. I’ve used [Leap] and [Swing] a hell of a lot.

Of course, it’s not a problem. From the looks of things, this bastard is almost out of mana too.

[“Mister, all the corpses near the portal have collapsed!”]

He’d kept [Puppet] active on the corpse legion even while fighting us. And now he’s turned it off? That means he’s that badly cornered.

'Just a few more rounds should do it.'

I rush at him as he scurries away like a rat. Even without [Leap], it’s much the same as the fight so far. He runs, I catch him, and he uses [Bone Armor]. I smash it with repeated mace blows, and Erwin shoots an arrow. How long does this go on?

'How fucking big is his MP pool?'

Once again, I’ve barely managed to catch up on foot and am pounding him with my mace after he activates [Bone Armor]. That’s when I hear it.

[“Ah, Jandel. Can you hear me?”]

Good news and bad news arrive together.

[“We’ve killed Blue Mane. We’ll be there to help soon.”]

Melter Fend and his clan members have finally succeeded in their raid on the wolf bastard. The disappearance of the corpse legion probably played a big part. I couldn’t ask for better news.

But...

[“And one more thing. It seems... Master Kyle has lost.”]

Kyle has lost.

[“Be careful. The Scholar of Destruction may come for you.”]

Melter Fend’s warning is pointless. He’s already here.

“Hoho, young Necrapethor. You’re quite the sorry sight yourself.”

Fuck.