Chapter 17: Three Will Come (4)

“■■, ■■■──”

In the deep darkness, something growled.

Fwoosh!

Simultaneously, a flame suddenly ignited on an extinguished torch.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh──

The moment the torches, which had begun to burn on their own, gradually cleared the darkness of the room,──Fwoosh!

Another huge flame flickered.

A blue one.

“…!”

A pure, magical aura.

That blue flame was burning with an undead as its wick.

One with a massive frame—appearing almost three times larger than me or Evie—that didn't seem to have once been of the same human species.

In life, it would have undoubtedly covered that massive body entirely with muscles like a solid rock wall.

Although, weathered by time, all that remained were rotten flesh and, in between, the occasional exposed white bones covered in dust and cobwebs──nevertheless, the overwhelming presence of a warrior who could take on a thousand foes still remained.

Of a certain warrior.

“■■■■■──!!”

A fierce roar of 「Rage」 echoed, tearing through the darkness.

「Drunkard's Specter」.

At last, it was the moment the master of this dungeon revealed itself.

* * *

“An undead warrior?”

I nodded at Evie's question.

This was back in the rest area, when we were planning our strategy before entering the boss room.

--

[History] Success

--

You recall the song of a bard you heard in a tavern in Stout, on the theme of this tomb's legend.

“Long ago there was a great warrior who served Starion.”

“Wh-What? Why are you suddenly singing again…”

“He fell in battle on the field of a great holy war but death did not grant him rest. A greedy noble who coveted his power…”

“Ah, what is this bastard saying? Hey, speak in the common tongue.”

“…Ahem. That noble hired a necromancer to resurrect the dead warrior. He intended to make him his puppet.”

But just as bards sing as often as they eat (or in order to eat), excessive greed always brings misfortune.

“In the end, he failed to control the warrior's immense power, and as a result of the failed necromancy, this entire tomb was cursed── it's a common story.”

“So, you're saying that 'Drunkard' or whatever is the warrior from that legend?”

“That's right.”

“And he must be super strong, to be called a legend?”

“He was. Now that he's a cursed undead, his level has been cut by nearly half of a half.”

“So what level is he? Now.”

“4.”

“Shit, you're telling me he was level 16….”

It was better than the 「Guard Captain」, being lower, but even level 4 was a pretty tricky boss at this point.

Moreover, since 「Word Command」, the secret to defeating that foe, wouldn't work on this opponent, Evie's concern could certainly not be called baseless.

But, “Don't worry.”

In the end, it was a monster.

“The three of us can take him down easily.”

One that exists to be taken down.

“Alright, the 「Drunkard's Specter」 is a boss with three 'phases'.”

First, phase 1 was simple.

“We just have to do our best to dodge his attacks as he tries to kill everything in sight, and hit him as much as we can. Then we'll naturally move on.”

“…Who?”

“Hmm?”

“Who dodges and who hits.”

“….”

I just smiled silently.

Because I couldn't bring myself to say the words that had just popped into my head.

The Drunkard's Specter!

His opponent is…

“I knew it, you motherfuuuuckeeeer──!!”

“■■■──!”

Whoosh!

A heavy axe, the size of Evie, swung and tore through the air.

“Kiiyaak!?”

Evie, who barely dodged the blow by throwing her body, landed with a thud, falling to the ground.

She rolled on the floor to evade the ensuing attacks.

Thump! Thump! Thwack──!

Every time the axe blade hit the ground, fragments of the broken stone floor flew in all directions.

If this were a game screen, I would have been relaxed watching the 'Miss!' text pop up each time, but, “Why! Why is this happening to me──!?”

Unfortunately, Evie didn't seem to have that luxury.

Thus, the basic strategy for the boss fight was the same as before.

『Joy, beautiful spark of divinity, Daughter from Elysium』

First, I had been singing the 「Song of Swiftness」 ever since we entered the boss room.

As I said before, my current build was naturally a bad match for undead.

Even more so if it was a boss-level monster that couldn't be taken down in one hit with 「Vicious Mockery」.

『We enter, drunk with fire, Heavenly one, your sanctuary 』

The so-called 'aggro system' in this game was structured to switch to the character who dealt the most damage in that turn, in most cases.

In other words, the moment I used 「Vicious Mockery」, even with the halved damage against undead, the aggro would immediately switch to me.

And naturally, if I took just one hit from that huge axe, I would die instantly.

I'd surely be in a state where a death certificate could be issued without a doctor's consent.

So, unless I was certain I could finish him in one turn, it was better not to even touch him.

Therefore, in this dungeon, it was best for me to quietly trust my companions and act as a supporter.

『Your magic binds again』

If there was one silver lining, it was that since undead themselves have a clear ceiling in the lore, I would hardly encounter them in the late game (in the north) as the enemies' levels got higher.

So, this time, please carry me, my companions.

“You! You, you're thinking something really annoying right now, aren't you!?”

『…What custom has strictly divided.』

For now, after throwing the perceptive Evie… setting her up as an evasion tank, I cast a buff with a song from a little distance away, and Rine provided support with magic from a much farther distance, at maximum range.

This was the alpha and omega of this dungeon's strategy.

However, one difference from before was that, since a boss is a boss, even the high-Dexterity Evie couldn't be guaranteed to dodge 100% of the time.

Just as expected, “Wai──”

The 'Drunkard', like a true 「Veteran Fighter」, suddenly mixed in a feint, pretending to swing his axe, and Evie, who flinched at that, got caught in a counter-motion.

Subsequently, the flashing axe blade flew towards Evie in a trajectory that was impossible to dodge.

Whoosh!

In game terms, it had prevented her from even making an evasion roll.

“──!”

Because of that, Evie couldn't react to the blow, but, ──Crack!

Rine 'reacted'.

A huge 「Rock Shield」, like a cliff face, appeared in front of Evie, and the descending axe blade embedded itself in the hard rock.

“What──”

Evie, flustered by the events that had unfolded before her eyes in an instant, stared blankly at the scene for a moment,──Crash! and then hastily corrected her posture upon seeing the rock crumble with a loud noise.

She must have realized that there was no time to be amazed by the immense strength that had easily shattered Rine's 「Rock Shield」 with a single axe swing, a shield that the mage from the slave auction house had to continuously bombard with magic for several turns to barely break.

However, it seemed the Drunkard was surprised too.

At the huge rock that had suddenly appeared before him and blocked his axe.

“■■■■──!”

The Drunkard soon roughly pulled back his axe and tried to continue his attack, but, “Where do you think you're going!”

It was now Evie's turn again.

Evie didn't miss the opening that had been created for a moment while the Drunkard was flustered.

“Running wild as you please!”

The tip of the dagger that Evie thrust out after kicking off the ground flashed in the light, and she delivered a 「Cunning Strike」 towards the Drunkard's weak point── the 'unbeating heart'.

“Hah!”

──Swoosh!

The dagger, drawing a band of light, dug into the Drunkard's flesh and reached the heart.

But, as expected, it couldn't pierce it yet.

Instead, with a crack!, it only managed to carve a slight fissure into the hard heart, but that was enough.

Because it was a 'critical hit'.

“──■■■!!”

As if to prove this, the Drunkard, who had thrown Evie off with a swing of his axe along with a roar, staggered, clutching his stabbed chest with one hand.

Then, “■■■, ■■■■──!!”

As if thoroughly enraged, he let out another resounding roar of 「Rage」… no, a level higher, a roar of 「Fury」.

“Ugh…!”

At the roar that threatened to tear her eardrums, Evie, who had heard it right in front of her, seemed to flinch for a moment and freeze, caught in a 'Fear' state.

“Evie!”

The moment I saw that, I 'reacted' by stopping my song and shouting loudly at her.

『Dodge!』

“!”

At my 「Word Command」, Evie, despite being in a 'Fear' state, snapped to her senses, “Whoa!?”

And barely twisted her body to dodge the axe blade that flew right at her.

Then she looked back at me with eyes that seemed to have no idea what had just happened, “■■■──!”

But it was only for a very brief moment, due to the Drunkard's onslaught, who didn't stop and swung his axe again after the miss.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Every time the axe was swung, a strong wind rose, and Evie's hair, which was constantly being narrowly missed, fluttered.

As befitting its 「Furious」 state, the Drunkard was truly attacking without rest.

“Aaaah! I'm sorry! I apologize! I was just feeling wronged from only taking hits, so I tried to act cool for once!”

Although Evie reacted like that, her 'critical hit' just now had undoubtedly dealt immense damage.

In fact, Evie, who had been busy just dodging attacks, “…?”

Soon seemed to notice that things were a little different from the beginning when the foe was unleashing a flurry of seamless attacks.

If not, she wouldn't have smirked in such a dire situation.

That's right.

Thanks to 「Fury」, the power and speed of the Drunkard's attacks had increased, but in the process, the swinging motions had also naturally become much larger.

And that meant, “I'm really sorr──”

That the openings had increased.

“──y, not!”

Evie, who would never miss that opening, pretended to bow in apology, and then used the rebound from raising her body to leap up.

At the same time, she spun once in the air, instantly getting behind the Drunkard, and──

“If you're a corpse, then be a corpse and stay dead!”

──Stab!

This time, she landed a 「Feint Attack」.

A unique skill of a rogue that, even if you stab them right in front of their face, as long as it hits, it unconditionally gets a 'sneak attack' judgment, literally fleecing an enemy with their eyes wide open.

“──■■!?”

The moment Evie's reverse-gripped dagger stabbed the back of the Drunkard's neck, its massive body staggered once more.

As if it had been 'ambushed' and taken an unexpected blow.

Evie didn't miss that opening this time either.

As soon as she landed after pulling out the dagger, she spun around once more to return to the Drunkard's front, and──

“──Peek-a-boo, you son of a bitch.”

Stab!

This time too, she aimed for the heart and thrust her dagger.

At that moment, ──Crack!

A sound of a hard heart cracking echoed.

At last, the death knell had rung.

* * *

“His weak point is the heart. Of course, since he's an undead, it's not a real heart.”

I put my finger on the floor and drew a large heart shape.

“To really damage him, you have to relentlessly aim for this heart. Probably about twice? If you stab it properly, it will start to crack. ──Then, from that point on, the real fight begins.”

“Hey, wait a minute.”

“Hmm?”

“I get all that… but why 'Drunkard' of all things?”

Evie suddenly asked with her arms crossed.

“Just from what you're saying, isn't he just a berserker? So why is he the Drunkard's Specter and not the Berserker's Specter?”

At that question, I couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

“Good point.”

As Evie said, the boss here was a warrior who had undoubtedly chosen the path of a 'berserker' in life.

The reason he was called the 「Drunkard's Specter」 was──

“──■, ■■■!!”

The moment the signal announcing the end of phase 1 echoed in this wide room, the Drunkard stomped the ground with all his might as if writhing in pain.

“Whoa!?”

The resulting wind pressure sent Evie flying far away, and even I, who was at a certain distance, momentarily lost my balance and almost fell.

Then, the Drunk-ard untied the large 'bottle' that was tied with a thick rope, one that could be called a waist rope but was almost the size of a rope used to pull the sails of a ship.

And the moment he held it in one hand and immediately started chugging it down, Fwoosh──!

The magical aura enveloping the Drunkard began to burn even more fiercely.

“──Here he comes!”

It was the beginning of phase 2.