Chapter 358 - Isolation (5)

A little over 190 centimeters tall. The Lighthouse Keeper, Noark's supernatural ability user, somehow had a build better suited to a warrior than the Blood Knight's.

I eyed him and licked my lips.

'Whew... This would be so much easier with [Leap].'

About 130 meters separated us. A distance I could have closed with just two uses of that skill. But...

'Well, what can I do? It's gone.'

I forced my regret aside. What good would pining for something I no longer had do? Without a movement skill, I would simply have to get there on my own two feet.

That suited the barbarian spirit better anyway.

"Erwin, Emily, you two stay here and hold this position."

"... What about you, Mister?"

"I'll be back in a moment."

"Back? Where are you—"

Where else?

「The character has used [Wild Outburst].」

I charged forward with a roar.

"WOOOOOOO!"

As expected, shouting something other than my ancestral god's name just didn't have the same kick, but I had no choice. I still wasn't sure whether Raven had figured me out. Like the Corpse Collector, she might simply have doubled down on her earlier misunderstanding.

TAP TAP.

Until now, I had stayed on the defensive, focused solely on protecting my companions. The moment I broke formation for the first time, they reacted.

The Blood Knight was first.

"..."

He had been keeping his distance to avoid entering the teleportation's range, but now he lunged at me.

Except...

CLANG!

Did he really think that would work?

All I had to do was block his flame-wreathed sword, which served in place of Aura, with my shield.

TAP TAP.

Ignoring the Blood Knight, I dashed forward again. Of course, my Agility wasn't high enough to shake him off, leaving my back wide open...

SLASH!

But it wasn't as though I had to block everything with my shield. Taking a hit with my body only left a somewhat deep cut, not a serious injury like a severed limb.

It just hurt like hell because my Pain Tolerance had dropped.

'Shit, did he salt that blade or something?'

The surging pain made me grimace, but I didn't stop. If pain were enough to keep me from doing what needed doing, I never would have made it this far.

TAP TAP.

Like a salmon swimming upstream, I doggedly kicked off the ground once more.

And at that moment, the Blood Knight showered me with praise.

"Wh-what...!"

Apparently, watching me keep dashing forward no matter how many times he stuck his sword into my back had made an impression.

"Stop...!"

It was a little bland compared to the compliments I'd received before, but the bewilderment in his voice was quite satisfying.

Right. When would he ever have dealt with something like this? With Aura, he must have sliced through everyone, tanks included.

SLASH!

Tireless, he stuck me with his sword again. Of course, nothing changed. Whether my skin got cut or not, I kept my eyes ahead and charged like a runaway locomotive.

And...

"...!"

There wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

TAP TAP.

It was about time he learned, too. Aura had made his life so easy that he'd never realized it before...

SLASH!

But damage dealers were inherently helpless against tanks.

WHOOOOSH!

Just then, supporting fire came from behind. An arrow from Erwin.

And...

THUNK.

It struck his arm.

He'd dodged those just fine while we were defending. Had he really been that desperate to do something about me? I didn't know the details, but this mistake was decisive.

"...!"

You could tell from the way his face was already twisting. One arrow might not amount to much, but the follow-up certainly would.

「Erwin Fornacci de Tersia has cast [Rupture].」

The same skill that had once blown Amelia's double to pieces.

CRUNCH!

As it activated, the Blood Knight's arm split into dozens of chunks that pattered to the ground.

Okay, that took care of the pesky mosquito.

TAP TAP.

I kept running, leaving behind the Blood Knight, who had been knocked away by the force of his arm bursting apart. Of course, the next obstacle soon appeared.

"Wow, that guy's like an Ogre!"

Lilanne Vivian, the dark mage who had been leisurely watching my charge from dozens of meters overhead, cackled and began hurling spells.

「Lilanne Vivian has cast rank-four dark magic [Corrupting Flames].」

She started with black flames raining down over a wide area. But like most area-of-effect skills, the damage to an individual target was relatively low.

I held my shield overhead like an umbrella and kicked off the ground. Sure, my shield would take some damage...

'Nothing new there.'

Had my shield ever come out of a tough fight unscathed? I could cover the repairs with loot.

TAP TAP.

With that in mind, I pushed off the ground and surged ahead again. Perhaps that made her realize she needed a different strategy.

「Lilanne Vivian has cast rank-four dark magic [Monument of Pain].」

The rain of fire stopped, replaced by pitch-black fog that rose and rushed me from every direction.

'Judging by the visual effect, I think that's...'

If I was right, there was no dodging this skill. You could only endure it with Mana resistance.

Which meant...

'She can't dodge it either.'

The instant the fog clung to my body, I quickly spoke the command.

「The character has cast [Risk Taking].」

The active skill from my newly acquired Gacha Bone Essence. Its effect was simple: while active, it doubled the damage I took, but also increased the damage reflected by [Probabilistic Retaliation]. That was all.

However...

「The power of the Transcendent unlocks the ability inherent in this skill.」

Combining it with [Transcendence] added an interesting effect.

「The damage immunity effect of [Probabilistic Retaliation] is removed, but its activation chance is fixed at 100%.」

I called it the guaranteed gacha.

WHOOOOM!

As the skill activated, the black fog clinging to my skin began to harden. This was [Monument of Pain]'s effect. A temporary movement restriction.

And...

SHUNK!

An unavoidable attack.

"AAAAAAAH!"

That fucking stung.

CRACK!

After I endured it for about two seconds with a shout, the hardened fog shattered like pottery and fell to the ground. Its inner surface was covered in protruding spikes.

What was this, some medieval torture device?

At least I wasn't the only one getting a taste, right?

「Ordinary Luck.」

The hit resolved, triggering [Probabilistic Retaliation].

RATTLE, RATTLE.

A skeleton rose beside me, its bone joints rattling. There was no triumphant sound effect, so it apparently wasn't a great success.

Still...

「Reflects 30% of damage taken back at the enemy.」

Thirty percent, not fifteen. On top of that, the damage I had taken was doubled, so I was effectively returning four times the usual reflected damage.

Honestly, it still felt like I was getting a raw deal...

"H-huh...?!"

But my opponent was a mage, the very definition of fragile. I supposed I could accept that exchange rate.

"Wh-what is this...!"

The moment the skeleton reached toward the sky, black fog engulfed the witch on her broomstick.

And...

SHUNK!

The chilling sound echoed all the way down here.

"KYAAAAAAH!"

Quite a set of lungs on her. Was that why they called her the Screaming Witch?

TAP TAP.

I resumed moving, my body riddled with holes of various sizes. Perhaps because the spell dealt guaranteed damage, the wounds weren't as deep as I'd expected, even after taking double damage.

It had still hurt like a fucking bitch.

'Looks like that's why she survived, too.'

Vivian had begun falling with a scream as soon as the spell ended, but she recovered partway down and barely avoided crashing with a levitation spell.

'Her wounds didn't look that deep either...'

Tsk. I'd hoped even thirty percent would be enough to one-shot a mage.

'Did she reduce some of the damage with something like a Mana Shield in that split second?'

It was certainly disappointing...

"Uuugh..."

But I'd achieved my objective for now. Judging by the way she was still squirming and making a fuss, she wouldn't have the energy or presence of mind to bombard me with spells for a while.

With the dark mage dealt with, I was rapidly closing on their back line when...

[GRAAAAAH!]

More corpses the Corpse Collector had taken out of subspace blocked my path. Seven of them. Perhaps he'd brought out tanking undead to stop me, because their bulk put even large monsters to shame.

If I had to crane my neck this far while using [Gigantification]...

'About seven meters tall?'

Once again, I thought how easy this would be with [Leap], but it wasn't much of a problem. I wasn't just any tank.

A wall blocking my way? No need to go around it.

「The character has cast [Swing].」

I just had to remove the wall.

「Attack range increases threefold.」

My hammer extended like the Monkey King's staff, and I brought it down on the crown of the seven-meter corpse giant's head. It seemed to be an undead built for tanking, but that was enough.

After all, [Swing] scaled with Strength. Add the Demon Crusher's effect for a 500% power increase, and, since it was a downward strike, another 50% armor penetration...

KABOOOOOM!

How was some summon supposed to withstand that?

SPLUUUURT!

Reduced to a lump of rotten meat by one hammer blow, the corpse giant gushed blood like an enormous fountain.

Whew, this one's poison was pretty strong.

「The character has been poisoned (High).」

「Poison Tolerance is 100 or higher.」

「Poisoning severity is adjusted to 'Low.'」

The poison seeped through my skin into my body, causing pain. But not enough to stop me. Especially not with my target right in front of me.

'Finally here.'

I quickly passed through the gap left by the pulverized corpse giant and looked ahead. About thirty meters to my target.

Except...

'What the hell? Why is this bastard so far forward?'

Had he come all this way himself to summon the corpse giants? The Corpse Collector stood about five meters away. He was visibly flustered...

It would be rude to just pass him by.

「The character has cast [Swing].」

「Attack range increases threefold.」

Without another thought, I brought my hammer down at him. Rather than dodge, he chose to defend, using a skill I hadn't seen in a while.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Bone Armor].」

Heh. It used to take several blows to break that. How about this time?

I soon had my answer.

CRACK!

The shell surrounding the caster's body peeled away after a single hammer blow, exposing the flesh beneath.

And...

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

In an instant, flames engulfed his body, turning it to bone. A top-class invincibility skill from a rank-three Essence that converted Mental and Ability stats into Physical stats and granted damage immunity for one minute.

'Wow, didn't think one hit would force out his invincibility skill.'

Now that it was active, there was no point wasting energy. I grabbed one of his arms and hurled him far away.

Then...

THUD!

I jumped high into the air as if using [Leap]. I could see the stakes planted around the Lighthouse Keeper firing all sorts of abilities like turrets in a tower-defense game.

The rank-four transformation skill [Sublime Idol]. It was the Lighthouse Keeper's core skill, and this was how it worked: by planting totems in the ground, he could transform his abilities. For example, a single-target buff or curse would become a wide-area aura...

'Looks like he was in a hurry.'

Seeing the totems belch fire and shoot magic projectiles, he seemed to have hastily switched off support-aura modes like [Acceleration] and [Soul Regeneration] in favor of offense.

"... You monster."

Even after watching me stubbornly take every hit on my way here, he didn't run. Well, leaving the totems' protection would probably be more dangerous.

He shouted desperately.

"... Come on!"

What was he talking about? I had absolutely no intention of going in there.

「The character has cast [Eye of the Storm].」

「The power of the Transcendent unlocks the ability inherent in this skill.」

He seemed to be within range now, so I used my pull skill.

WHOOOOOOSH!

A gale rushed toward me.

And...

"Ah, aaaaah!"

His body came flying along with it.

He sounded so cool when he normally spoke, but even he screamed like that when things got desperate.

I caught him by the throat in midair with my shield-bearing hand and squeezed. He struggled, but a little pressure from my fingertips quieted him down.

Should've done that from the start.

THUD.

Landing on the ground, I looked down at him and spoke curtly.

"Those rings."

"...?"

"They'd better be expensive."

Getting here had been hard work.

* * *

CRUNCH!

Still gripping his throat, I slammed my forehead into his face. Not only was the angle bad for a hammer blow, but up close, I could see he wore a necklace, too. My hammer would crush it all.

"..."

I was about to headbutt him again when his body went limp. Dead? Or unconscious?

Hoping for the former, I rammed him another two times.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Ugh, gross. How could a person's eye...

'... Anyway, that should do for him. Now what?'

With my first objective complete, it was time to reconsider.

'Now that I've taken out the Lighthouse Keeper, I think we could fuck up the rest in a four-on-three fight...'

Should I head back and teleport out? Or keep fighting and finish them off?

I didn't have long to ponder.

THUD! THUD!

Even now, the corpse giants were closing in on me.

'Right. Let's pull out for now.'

On the way here, I'd been stabbed countless times, hit with magic, and poisoned. Willpower could get me through those problems.

But...

'My MP is cutting it way too close.'

I'd kept [Impregnable Fortress] active to deal with Aura, and now I was using [Gigantification], too. And that wasn't all. I'd been spamming various skills, combining them with [Transcendence].

If my MP ran dry, even blocking Aura would become difficult, making it that much harder to protect my companions from the Blood Knight.

'And we'd be in serious trouble if more reinforcements showed up.'

My decision made, I ran back the way I'd come, my spoils clutched in one hand.

But what was going on?

'Why isn't anyone attacking?'

The corpse giants that had seemingly been charging me had lined up like a wall to defend one side, and no spells were coming my way.

"... Necrapethor! What are you doing?! Stop him! It's not like you can die anyway!"

Judging by her shouting, she seemed to have recovered her senses by now...

Why, then?

I soon found out.

An undead in relatively decent condition shouted on behalf of the now-skeletal Corpse Collector.

[If you want to stop him, why don't you do it, Ms. Vivian? Your magic seems to work on him just fine!]

"What...? Didn't you see what happened? He reflected my magic!"

Now I understood. They'd all suffered at my hands once, so none of them dared make a careless move. Fair enough. They didn't have any information on me. They wouldn't want to get caught and have their heads smashed like the Lighthouse Keeper.

As I ran along as freely as if crossing an empty field...

"What, you want a fight?"

The Blood Knight, now in one-armed mode, blocked my path and abruptly asked,

"... Name."

Huh?

"What's... your name?"

I'd wondered what he was up to, and all he wanted was my name? I had only one thing to say.

"Fight me if you're going to. Otherwise, fuck off. I need to get back and eat."

"..."

"What, cat got your tongue?"

As I said that and started running forward, the Blood Knight stepped aside.

"... I'll find out... soon enough... anyway."

Surprisingly, the Blood Knight let me go without even stabbing me in the back. His earlier helplessness seemed to have taught him his lesson. After all, if I simply ignored his slashes and kept running, how was he supposed to stop me?

TAP TAP TAP TAP.

With one final burst of speed, I soon reached my destination. The magic circle drawn on the ground was glowing as though ready to activate at any moment.

The mage herself, however, stood frozen in a daze.

"What are you doing? Aren't we leaving?"

At my urging, Raven looked up at me. For some reason, her eyes were trembling violently.

What was it?

Puzzled, I looked around. Erwin and Amelia wore similar expressions.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Come on, I'd even brought back loot.

Yet they were staring at me as if I were some kind of monster.