[Turn 2]
A hologram window appeared before my eyes. At the same time, our actions began.
“Attack! Those who are paralyzed, focus on recovery. Keep your distance from the demon!”
Every time Benius’s turn begins, [Demonic Magic] activates.
This means Rodelin, Raymon, and Rezé can’t attack this turn.
“Zero, I can use the Blessing of Purification. This paralysis is nothing I can’t cure.”
Victoria began to exude holy essence from her hands, ready to show her prowess.
Of course, I knew Victoria could use [Purification].
‘She was one of the playable characters, after all.’
I’ve played the Carpathia Invasion with Victoria thousands of times. It would be odd if I didn’t know that.There was a reason I wasn’t using [Purification].
“Keke, wait for my signal.”
“Why?”
“If the demon notices, the battle might change. We need to use it at a crucial moment to deal a fatal blow.”
Of course, that’s a lie.
Currently, Victoria’s [Purification] is a single-target skill. It’s inefficient to use in this situation.
‘And Victoria’s attack power isn’t bad either.’
Victoria deals 1.5 times more damage to enemies with an ‘evil’ alignment.
Whether it’s her whip attack or holy magic, she can deal more damage than others here. Wasting action points on [Purification] and making someone weaker attack instead?
That’s a loss.
‘It would be different if she could cure Rezé…’
But Rezé was out of Victoria’s skill range.
I don’t even know where Rezé is hiding, so it’s an unfeasible strategy.
“Hmph~ I see. Fine, I’ll follow your judgment this time.”
Perhaps because I had just defeated Mabelga, my excuse worked easily.
Victoria swung her whip, imbued with holy energy.
“Haaap!”
“Flame Spear!”
Victoria, Alex, Luna, and Yuridia’s attacks followed.
Now, it’s my turn.
I stomped the ground hard and punched toward Benius.
First Secret Technique of the Vyuern family.
Explosive Force.
Clang!
A satisfying sound echoed through the battlefield. Benius staggered, clutching the hole in his belly.
However.
[Benius’s defense is reduced by 2%.]
[16%]
‘Only 1%…’
3% in the first turn, and now 1%. We’ve only reduced his health by 4% in two turns.
Partly because Rodelin and Raymon were paralyzed, but mostly because Rezé couldn’t attack.
It’s a random skill, but it’s also my fault for not preparing magic resistance artifacts, so I can’t entirely blame Rezé.
I just hope he jumps around more to avoid paralysis.
“Raaaargh!!”
With Benius’s roar, lightning spread across the battlefield.
[Benius’s Demonic Magic activates.]
[Rodelin, Luna, Yuridia, and Victoria cannot act next turn.]
“Damn! Paralyzed again…!”
“I can’t believe I allowed such an attack… Be careful, everyone. I can’t heal you for a while!”
For turn 3, those who can’t act are Rodelin, Luna, Yuridia, and Victoria.
Interestingly, Rodelin was affected by [Demonic Magic] both in the first and this turn.
‘So, there’s a chance to be paralyzed consecutively?’
I gained new information, but it wasn’t comforting.
In the worst case, one could be paralyzed from turn 1 to 5. Every turn.
‘…This is bad.’
What if I get paralyzed on turn 4 or 5? The most crucial turns?
What if I get paralyzed in both turns?
‘There’s no way out.’
For a grade 4 demon, it seemed like an easy gimmick, but upon closer inspection, Mabelga’s gimmick was trivial.
But now’s not the time to worry about a future that hasn’t come yet.
Surviving this turn is more important.
Crackle!!
White sparks burst from Benius’s hand. The instant death skill [White Lightning].
The target this time.
“Raymon! Watch out!”
Is Raymon.
“Eeek! Save me!”
Despite his pleas, the white lightning didn’t stop.
Just as the white lightning was about to touch Raymon.
[Dwener’s skill, ‘Interference’ activates.]
Dwener came flying from somewhere and blocked Raymon.
Crackle!!
“Aaaaagh!”
Dwener’s body convulsed grotesquely and then fell with a thud.
His charred body emitted a white smoke.
The reason Dwener took Raymon’s skill was simple. Because of the [Interference] skill.
[Interference S]
Dwener always craved attention and kept looking for work and people. This shaped his interfering personality.
He meddles in everything.
This skill is affected by the ‘power of the universe.’
‘The power of the universe… Does that mean it has no range limit?’
This turn, Dwener was in the mid-rear position.
To reach the frontline where Raymon was, he’d need at least two movements.
Yet he moved instantly to block [White Lightning].
An impressive skill.
“P-Principal! Are you okay?”
[Dwener’s ‘Trash’s Tenacity’ skill activates.]
[Health becomes 1.]
[Remaining uses: 1]
“I-I’m fine. This is nothing to a descendant of the great Seigan family.”
“Waaah! I’m sorry! I thought you were a useless animal! But you’re just a normal person!”
Raymon shook Dwener’s body, sobbing.
To call someone who saved your life a useless animal and then a normal person. Typical Raymon.
“Cough!”
Hey, stop shaking him. He might actually die.
Our meat shield would turn into real meat!
[Turn 3]
As soon as the alert for turn 3 appeared, I stomped the ground hard.
The rotation that started from my soles transferred to my legs, waist, and finally my arm, which delivered a punch.
First Secret Technique of the Vyuern family.
Explosive Force.
Clang!
Black blood spurted from Benius’s thigh.
[‘Explosive Force’ has hit three times.]
[The ‘Destruction’ effect is applied.]
[Benius’s resistance is too high. Only part of the Destruction effect is applied.]
[Current Benius’s defense reduction: 25%]
Not 100%, but 25%. Not complete destruction, but enough.
“Ugh…”
Benius, kneeling on one knee, coughed up black blood. Blood flowed profusely from the hole in his belly.
“Lightning Strike!”
“This is for the Principal!”
Alex and Raymon attacked, and then.
Boom!!
Rezé’s shot hit Benius.
The firepower more suited to a bombardment than a gunshot. Benius spewed more blood than before.
[12%]
In turn 3, we dealt 4% damage.
Even with fewer attackers due to [Demonic Magic], the ‘Destruction’ effect allowed us to deal significant damage.
Thud!
This turn, I hadn’t used my ‘move’ action, so I was free to move.
I distanced myself from Benius. Far enough that I couldn’t attack next turn, but it didn’t matter.
I had achieved my goal of ‘destroying’ a part of Benius.
Crackle…
I was also getting closer to Adonis’s spear, the key to this fight.
‘8% in 3 turns. 2.667% per turn. Simple math shows it’s impossible to reduce 20% in 5 turns.’
We need something other than attacks.
Random paralysis from [Demonic Magic].
As if the tight situation wasn’t enough, paralysis limited our attacks, implying another method exists.
And that method is.
‘Adonis’s spear.’
The fact that ‘actions’ are restricted, but ‘movement’ isn’t supports this theory.
“Raaaargh!!”
[Benius’s Demonic Magic activates.]
[Zero, Alex, Yuridia cannot act next turn.]
“Damn!”
Lightning crackled from my body.
It tingled. Like a massive static shock all over.
So, in turn 4, I can’t act. But it’s fine.
After retrieving the spear, I couldn’t attack from the distance anyway.
“Die!”
White lightning rose from Benius’s hand.
The target this turn was Yuridia.
As the white lightning struck, someone flew through the air.
“Raaaargh!!”
[Dwener’s skill, ‘Interference’ activates.]
[Dwener’s ‘Trash’s Tenacity’ skill activates.]
[Health becomes 1.]
[Remaining uses: 0]
Medicine for pharmacists, attacks for Rezé, White Lightning for NOld Dwener(?). (TL Note: Will just call it NOld)
A perfect strategy. To pull this off against an unknown demon.
I truly am amazing.
“Cough, cough! Coooough!”
“Principal! Stay with us!”
Dwener looked in pain, but… he’ll be fine. NOld. Not Weak.
[Turn 4]
“Hyaap!”
“Holy Cross!”
Attacks from everyone except me, Alex, and Yuridia rained on Benius.
Boom!
After Rezé’s attack, Benius’s remaining health was…
[9%]
A good number. After the next turn’s attacks, I can deliver the final blow.
‘A perfect number.’
Crunch.
I retrieved Adonis’s spear from the rock and checked its stats with the [Information Window].
Hmm… fearsome stats.
Enough to make faint-hearted children faint. So, let’s skip the details.
We don’t want to scare the children.
Crackle!
Lightning surged from Adonis’s spear, but there was no abnormality in my body.
Instead, my stats increased thanks to the various buffs the spear provided.
‘I can finish this in the next turn.’
That’s what I thought.
[Bineus’s demon magic is activated.]
[Zero, Victoria, and Raymon’s actions for the next turn are impossible.]
“…?”
Unable to act for the 5th turn following the 4th turn.
No matter the odds, this was too much.
“Argh! Damn static again…!”
Victoria started to get irritated. Although her behavior was lacking in grace, I agreed with her.
‘This is the worst of the worst.’
The status ailment ‘Paralysis’ can be cured with the [Purification] skill.
But since Victoria was paralyzed, she couldn’t use the [Purification] skill.
The odds of this happening were low, but the chances of all of us being unable to act in the final turn were absurdly low.
It was impossible not to get annoyed.
‘There’s a way to remove paralysis. Stay calm.’
Right now, dealing with Bineus’s instant death skill [White Lightning] was important.
Currently, Dwener had used up all three chances of the [Trash’s Tenacity] skill.
From now on, if Dwener gets hit by [White Lightning], it’s instant death.
No, even if he gets hit by any other attack, he’ll die. Dwener’s current HP is 1.
“Cough…”
As Dwener coughed, saliva, smoke, and lightning spilled out together. Sweat was pouring down like rain.
Of course, [Trash’s Tenacity] didn’t block pain.
‘Dwener blocking the fourth turn’s [White Lightning] and dying at the same time. This is the best play as a gamer…’
‘But the worst as a person.’
Of course, I could bear that kind of criticism.
My ultimate goal is to clear this game.
Receiving criticism like ‘It’s your fault the principal died, Zero,’ was something I could endure.
However.
‘There’s no need to do that if there’s a better way.’
Yes. There was one way to save Dwener and the others.
One way to avoid even ‘instant death.’ That is…
[Spirit’s Breath: S]
Once per battle, it prevents a fatal attack.
Luna had the ‘Spirit’s Breath.’
As a top-tier artifact, it could easily block the instant death skill [White Lightning].
“Luna!”
I had to shout because of the distance.
Luna also shouted back at me.
“What?”
“Please protect the principal!”
“Isn’t attacking better? That guy looks like he’s on the brink of death.”
“Keke, demons are not easy to deal with. Always be cautious!”
Luna stared at me. What was she thinking?
After a moment of thought, Luna raised her hands high and shouted.
“Got it! Leave it to me!”
Crackle-!
As Luna shouted, Bineus unleashed lightning.
Since I had already shared the countermeasures, I wasn’t worried.
If Luna blocked [White Lightning] with ‘Spirit’s Breath’ and we poured all our attacks in the next turn, somehow…
We could finish this. That’s what I thought.
“Grooooooooar!!”
Bineus roared, and white lightning erupted from his entire body. And then.
Crackle— Crackle— Crackle-!
Dozens of white lightning bolts shot up into the sky. At the same time.
Ding-.
A hologram window popped up in front of me.
[Bineus’s skill, ‘Heavenly Lightning,’ is activated.]
[It is a full-scale attack.]
[It is a special mechanic. Individuals can perform ‘defense’ and ‘evasion’ using their own strength and items.]
…Damn it.
–TL Notes–
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