Chapter 18: Three Will Come (5)

The 2nd phase of the 「Drunkard's Specter」 fight could be characterized by two main features.

First, through the 'liquor' it just drank, it applies a damage increase buff to itself and, at the same time, removes all debuffs it was affected by, regardless of type.

For example, 'Poison'.

'Shock'.

'Burn'.

And other status effects one might inflict to make a boss fight easier──from the boss's perspective, there are plenty of things that would make it happier if they were gone, and it gets rid of all of them with the power of liquor.

The saying, 'liquor is the best of all medicines,' which would generally get you slapped if you said it to a doctor or a cleric, turns out to be true in its case.

But one couldn't just envy its infinite enjoyment of this happy spiral, because, in truth, that was only called liquor; if mortals like us were to carelessly put it to our lips, we wouldn't just lose our minds, but be sent straight to the afterlife.

Because it was a liquor brewed with a heavy concentration of the 'curse' that had turned this place into a dungeon.

Therefore, it was expected that just one sip would cause one's liver values to skyrocket like a coin that regression-users go all-in on, but.

Gulp, gulp, gulp──

The problem was that the creature knew that fact all too well.

The second feature of the 2nd phase.

It was that an area-of-effect attack using that liquor was added to its attack patterns.

Just like right now.

──Pffffft!!

Spraying out the liquor it had held in its mouth.

'As I thought…!'

This time, towards me.

As Evie was sent flying, the targeting had naturally shifted to me, who had become the closest enemy.

It was truly a malicious pattern of the 'if you don't know, you'll get hit' variety.

It forcibly changes the position of the tank in front, and while you're flustered by that, it immediately targets the damage dealer or healer behind the tank with a combo attack.

On top of that, with a damage increase buff applied.

Could the glass cannons hiding behind those tanks withstand a liquor-spray-and-auto-attack combo that even most tanks would struggle to endure if hit directly?

Of course, they couldn't, and they'd be killed instantly.

Especially the moment they were hit by the liquor, you could consider them gone.

──Well, of course, that's only if you didn't know.

“'Specter's Liquor'.”

This was the reason the boss was called the 「Drunkard's Specter」 and not the Berserker's Specter.

“It gains strength by drinking it. Conversely, it sprays it on us to take our strength.”

A prime example was the 'liquor spray' pattern that appeared from the 2nd phase.

“Sprays it?”

“Well, you'll see.”

If a character was hit by it directly, or even if not hit, fell into the ground AoE left after it was sprayed, that character would immediately be afflicted with the 'Intoxicated' status effect.

When that happened, their movement speed would be greatly reduced, their accuracy would drop… all sorts of negative debuffs would be applied, but among them, the most fatal was, of course, the fact that they might take actions completely different from the player's commands.

Because they were drunk.

Literally, their body wouldn't listen to them.

Moreover, if the status effect wasn't removed with medicine or magic, they would have to endure that state for 10 turns.

Therefore.

“You have to dodge it, no matter what.”

There was no other way.

Chwaaaak──!

The moment the liquor was sprayed in a fan shape, I threw my body forward and rolled on the ground to dodge it.

If I had rolled backward or to the side, given the nature of a fan-shaped ground AoE that spreads out, there was a high probability that I would have been hit in the end.

So, I rolled forward──towards the 'central angle'—before the fan shape could spread.

That way, I could dodge it almost with certainty.

Because most area-of-effect attacks, including this liquor spray, didn't determine evasion based on a dice roll according to the Dexterity stat, but on whether you were standing in that position or not.

“──Ugh!”

The only problem was that, in the process, the distance to the Drunkard was inevitably closed in an instant.

On top of that, just because there was no need for an evasion roll, it didn't change the fact that I was an athletic mess with a Dexterity stat of 3.

Therefore, it was much closer to literally throwing my body rather than rolling at the perfect timing, and because of that, I couldn't get up again easily.

I was in a 'Fallen' state.

And the Drunkard was looking down at me, with eyes blazing in 「Fury」.

“Uh…”

Right in front of my eyes.

“…Nice to meet you?”

“■■■■──!!”

“Oof.”

Our eyes met, and feeling awkward, I offered a light greeting, but the Drunkard answered with a roar, as if it didn't like it very much.

But it didn't matter.

“What did you put in your mouth──”

Because I had already bought enough time.

“──to be spraying it around!”

For Evie, who had been sent flying by the wind pressure, to quickly run back.

“You filthy thing!”

Thwack!

And stab her blade into its back.

“■■■──!?”

The Drunkard, hit by a clean 「Backstab」, seemed to get extremely angry and, turning its back abruptly, swung its axe in a wide arc.

Whoosh!

The heavy axe blade cut through the empty air.

And so, Evie, who had naturally taken over the aggro, was once again in the tank position, and in the meantime, I got up and put some distance between us, immediately starting to sing the 「Song of Swiftness」 that had been cut off.

The moment my singing voice once again filled the room, Evie's movements became noticeably lighter, as if she were riding a rhythm.

Whoosh!

Thanks to that, Evie was able to easily dodge the blow that had mercilessly torn through the wind.

“Hyaaaak!?”

…Well, there might be a difference in perspective.

Thump!

The Drunkard, who had fiercely struck the ground, immediately chugged from the liquor bottle in its hand without hesitation.

Then, no sooner had it pulled the axe out of the ground than it swung it wide horizontally once more, and the moment Evie jumped in place to dodge it──

“Evie! Pattern C!”

It spewed the liquor it had held in its mouth.

──Chwaaaak!!

Evie, who dodged it by immediately doing a backflip upon landing, quickly tried to regain her balance and posture, but.

“Tsk…!”

the Drunkard didn't seem to have any intention of giving her a chance.

There were three patterns to the 'liquor spray'.

First, pattern A was when there was some distance to the opponent, spraying in a fan shape with a central angle of about 45 degrees.

In other words, the one I had dodged by rolling forward was pattern A.

Pattern B was also a fan-shaped ground AoE, similar to A.

The difference, however, was that the central angle was wider, at about 90 degrees, and the direction and method of spraying were also a bit more upward, like a rain shower.

It had a much wider range, but in return, the spraying speed was slower, making it the easiest pattern to dodge, but that was because its purpose wasn't to hit the opponent in the first place, but to lay down a 'liquor ground AoE'.

Finally, there was pattern C, which, as you just saw, was just spitting it right at the opponent in front.

If pattern B's purpose was to lay down a ground AoE, this one's purpose was to target one person and apply the 'Intoxicated' status effect.

Therefore, it was the most difficult pattern to dodge, and probably only Evie among the three of us could react and dodge it.

“Pattern B!”

This one was pattern B.

Pffffft──

The sprayed Specter's Liquor soaked the floor like a light drizzle.

Evie dodged it very easily, but as mentioned before, this attack was not meant to hit her in the first place.

As expected, the Drunkard immediately stretched out its arm.

Towards one of the torches hanging on the walls of the room, which had lit up on their own when the battle started.

──A simple fact.

High-proof liquor catches fire.

As the incident at the auction house a while ago had proven.

And the liquor that had just been spread on the floor was an ancient liquor, aged for a very long time with a strong curse──in other words, concentrated magic.

So, I don't know the exact proof, but it was certain that it was off the charts.

In short.

“■■, ■■──!!”

If the Drunkard were to suddenly snatch that torch in its hand and throw it at the 'liquor ground AoE' on the floor.

“You crazy──”

──Fwoooosh!!

It meant that flames would instantly erupt.

And so, the Drunkard, which had erected a wall of fire behind it and instantly blocked Evie's escape route.

“──!?”

Immediately kicked off the ground and rushed in to bring down its axe.

Thwack!

The ground shook.

Evie, who had barely dodged it by rolling to the side.

“Evie! Use the bow!”

“…You don't have to tell me!”

As we had arranged in advance with the plan we made in the 'rest area', immediately took out the 「Reinforced Shortbow」 slung over her back.

Then, she jumped back once more to create distance and, almost at the same time, shot an arrow she had taken from the quiver.

It was a hit-and-run worthy of the skill name 「Hit and Run」.

Swish!

The arrow flew and embedded itself in the Drunkard's thick thigh.

“■■■■──!”

But the Drunkard showed no sign of pain and turned its body, then casually knocked away the arrows that flew in next by swinging its axe.

And then it leaped towards Evie again.

“Hey──”

──Thwack!

And slammed down its axe with all its might.

Watching the floor where she had been standing until a moment ago get completely smashed, Evie shot another arrow with 「Hit and Run」 and created distance again.

Swoosh!

The flying arrow embedded itself in the Drunkard's shoulder.

Perhaps enraged by her nimble escapes, the Drunkard, after chugging liquor again, immediately sprayed it in a pattern B formation and then snatched a torch and threw it.

Fwoosh──!

Fierce flames rose up behind Evie.

“■■■──!!”

The Drunkard immediately kicked off the ground and rushed towards Evie, but.

Thump!

Its axe only smashed the floor as well.

Thus, after switching to the bow instead of the dagger, Evie was dodging the attacks much more easily.

「Hit and Run」 was a skill that could be used even with a dagger equipped, but there was a difference in the range of motion between escaping from close quarters and escaping while already at a distance.

Of course, it wasn't all advantages.

Swish!

Those arrows that flew, unlike the dagger which could more easily target the weak point, the heart.

Clang! Clang!

As you could see from them bouncing off helplessly, had a low probability of landing an effective hit.

“──Hey!!”

Of course,

“Are you done yet──!?”

There was no need to land an effective hit.

By passing the 1st phase, Evie's role as a 'damage dealer' was practically over.

The switch to the bow was for easier aggro management.

In fact, the Drunkard, seemingly thoroughly enraged by Evie's continuous 「Hit and Run」, was only chasing after her.

──Therefore, it was missing something.

『──Lock on.』

The fact that there was one person whom it had not laid its eyes on even once since this battle began.

It had not realized it at all until now.

* * *

“Phase 3.”

It was the final phase of the Drunkard fight.

However, the Drunkard's individual patterns didn't change from the 2nd phase.

The reason the perceived difficulty skyrocketed despite that was.

“It's when the dead are resurrected.”

Because the enemy was no longer just the Drunkard.

When its health drops to about 40%, the Drunkard suddenly starts spraying liquor on the 'dead' in the middle of the battle.

It wasn't that its inner Confucian instincts had suddenly awakened and it was holding a surprise memorial rite, nor was it a performance to pray for its own soul in advance.

If I had to say, it was actually closer to praying for our souls in advance.

By spraying the liquor filled with the 'curse' that had turned this place into a dungeon, on the source of that curse.

In short, the noble who had tried to resurrect and control him, the rather skilled guards that noble had brought, and,

“A necromancer, I presume.”

“Correct.”

It meant that he would resurrect the mage who had actually resurrected him and make them fight alongside him.

Of course, if you looked at each of them individually, they were just mobs, not a significant threat.

But they were a nuisance.

In a situation where their existence alone was a sufficient nuisance.

Just as Rine had noticed right away, especially the necromancer.

After dealing with the group of soldiers who kept interfering with the fight against the Drunkard (the noble was practically just a walking pile of bones), the necromancer would reassemble those bones and resurrect them.

Limit?

None.

He just enjoys it infinitely.

So, to prevent that, you had to deal with the necromancer first… but that was also a huge pain, having to dodge the liquor ground AoE that the enraged Drunkard kept spraying and the flames it set on top of that.

So.

“Let's skip phase 3.”

Not seeing it at all was the best strategy.

Just skip it entirely.

* * *

But it would soon realize.

That that one person was, in fact, the being it should never have taken its eyes off of.

『All arts──』

To itself, which had forgotten the concept of death since being resurrected from it long ago.

『──Deploy.』

That this person was a grim reaper, who would once again grant it death.