Black Death Ice Forest (12)

Phew... Looks like we managed to finish it off. It was unusual for just Cal and me to fight together, but this was nice for a change. Maybe we should travel wherever we please, just the two of us, from now on.

"Cal, how's your right eye? Does it still hurt?"

"Graa..."

Cal has the 【Regeneration】 Skill, so his eyeball should eventually return to normal if we give it enough time. However, the eye is a complex and important organ, so apparently it will not heal quickly. It was painful to watch, but with no way to heal lost body parts, time was our only medicine.

"I wonder if everyone else is all right?"

I looked toward the companions who had seen us off. There, I saw them locked in a fierce battle with an Imitation Bone Dragon.

"Shall we go help them? My 【Dragon Factor】 has remained active this whole time, so even with 【Dragon Breath】 out of charges, I'll still be useful in battle."

"Gao!"

Cal nodded firmly at my decision. Under normal circumstances, 【Dragon Factor】 should have been dispelled long ago by automatic recovery, but there was a reason it was still active. Specifically, it was because of the curse effect of the 'Soul-Devouring Great Scythe.' Since the curse prevented me from recovering, my Health could no longer rise above ten percent, one of the conditions for 【Dragon Factor】 to end.

Still, it would be dispelled normally once the other condition—three minutes passing—was met. I could not maintain this state forever, so I had to be careful not to get overconfident.

'S-stop it!!!'

"I'll tear you limb from limb!"

"Which would you prefer: rough chopping or mincing?"

As I was thinking about that, MacFarlane's screams and Jigoro and the others' furious shouts reached me from farther away. The sounds of metal striking and crumpling rang out frequently from that direction.

They had both been declaring that they would dismantle him, so they must have been seriously trying to break him apart. With those two, I would not have been surprised if they were ripping off the armor by force or cutting straight through it. Go wild as much as you like, as long as you do not involve our allies, me included.

"Grrr..."

"Hm? You want to go over there?"

"Gwon!"

"...You're definitely going to get scolded, you know?"

"Guuu..."

"Sorry for making you hold back. Once this battle is over, I'll give you a chance to cut loose somewhere else."

"Gwooon!"

Apparently satisfied by my persuasion, Cal gave a cheerful roar and took to the sky.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

When Izam and his companions arrived, MacFarlane was practically licking his lips. They would provide experience for his servants, and he could use the power of the ring to turn them into new Undead servants. Besides, most of Izam's companions were rare monsters, so even if they became unusable, they would still be valuable as research material. That had been his assessment.

Things went smoothly at first. He summoned additional Undead servants and thought their sheer numbers would overwhelm us. He had prematurely assumed victory, thinking we were merely lowly monsters.

However, Izam and his companions adapted magnificently. They immediately focused on MacFarlane and, after only a few attacks, repeatedly struck directly at him by exploiting the insufficient output of the Sanctuary generated by his wand-type magitech. It should originally have been sturdier, but age-related deterioration had weakened it.

Their interference prevented him from summoning new servants, and the additional Spartoi he could have summoned were sealed away. His original strategy of overwhelming us with numbers was no longer viable.

He was shot through again and again, and eventually even lost the ring needed to summon his servants. As a result, MacFarlane was forced to use the '35-Type Dragon-Form Magitech Reinforced Armor,' which he had kept in reserve as his final trump card.

'Dismantle me? You mere monsters should know your place!'

As befitted MacFarlane's trump card, the reinforced armor performed so well that it did not seem to be on the verge of breaking down. Its overwhelming power, born from a body and weight surpassing those of an Imitation Bone Dragon, and its speed, unimaginable for something so huge, proved that its claim of matching an adult Dragon was no exaggeration.

"You're too soft!"

However, the ones opposing him were monsters who could not be confined to the category of players. Jigoro closed the distance by leaping into close range, then punched the armor with all his might. Armor and gauntlet collided, sending an unpleasant metallic noise echoing across the battlefield.

"Shaaa!"

Genjuro also leaped at the reinforced armor while dodging its attacks by a hair's breadth, then brought his odachi down in a powerful overhead slash. Both of them had deliberately targeted areas of armor with few scratches or dents, so they had not managed to destroy it.

Why were they going out of their way to target the hardest parts of the armor? Obviously, because they were sore losers. Being told that their attacks were ineffective had pricked their pride. If Izam had been fighting instead, he would certainly have created something like 【Acid Mist】 over the exposed parts of the armor without hesitation. Their differing attachment to how they won said a great deal about their personalities.

'Take this!'

"Tch, it's hard after all!"

"That is precisely why it is worth cutting."

While dodging the counterattacks, Jigoro and Genjuro considered how they could break through that armor. They were both reserving Martial Skills capable of damaging the hard parts as a last resort. They were not simply unfamiliar with using Martial Skills; more importantly, relying on the system to destroy the armor would somehow feel like losing. They would have used them in an ordinary boss battle, but... this was sore-loser behavior taken to its extreme.

"We'll have to get serious too, or it'll be dark before we're done."

"Indeed."

However, they were finally prepared to use Martial Skills that boosted their Stats. This world was almost indistinguishable from reality, but it was still a game. Sometimes, no amount of skill was enough to pierce an enemy's defenses. This was one of those times.

"Let's go! 【Divine Beast Transformation】, 【Incarnation of Flame and Thunder】, 【Oni God's Iron Body】!"

Jigoro had already been strengthened by Izam's 【Enchantment】, but he now applied every self-enhancement available to him. It was the same as when he had fought the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord in Bigdaleio. However, refusing to use 【Armor-Breaking Fist】, which would certainly shatter the armor, was a matter of pride for him.

"I suppose I should as well. 【Swordmaster's Entrance】, 【Moment of the New Moon】, 【Starving Insect Massacre】."

Like Jigoro, Genjuro continued stacking self-enhancements. He currently possessed the Swordmaster Title, and 【Swordmaster's Entrance】 was a Skill he had acquired when he chose that Title. It increased his Strength and Agility Stats, but its drawback was rather unusual: if he was slain while it was active, the experience gained by his enemy would increase.

Naturally, defeating someone known as a Swordmaster would earn one fame. The Skill had no effect that attracted hate, but if the opponent were another player, they would likely focus their attacks on him.

【Moment of the New Moon】 was a function of his odachi that he had also used during the battle with the Tarasque. It increased the weapon's attack power, but lowered it once the effect ended. It was a function suited to a short decisive battle, making it appropriate for the current situation.

And 【Starving Insect Massacre】 was an ultimate art obtainable only by insect-type monsters. Its effect was almost identical to Jigoro's 【Oni God's Iron Body】, but instead of Health, it consumed the user's Fullness Gauge. Its stat increase also grew stronger the hungrier the user became. In other words, it was an ultimate art that made its user stronger the closer they came to starving to death.

The effect lasted until the user either starved to death or ate something. It could not be ended immediately at will, but that would not be a problem in a short decisive battle. Once they destroyed MacFarlane's reinforced armor, Genjuro need only eat something.

"Here I gooooo!!!"

"I suppose I shall fight with just my odachi here."

Jigoro, every muscle in his body bulging, charged forward at bullet-like speed. Meanwhile, Genjuro sheathed the cursed sword that was part of his set equipment and gripped his odachi with all four arms. Thus, the first attack after they got serious came from Jigoro's fist.

"Oraaahhh!!!"

'Huh!? Whoaaaaaa!?'

The instant Jigoro punched the armor around its flank, an ear-piercing metallic clang, incomparable to anything before it, echoed across the battlefield. The impact made the reinforced armor, which should have possessed tremendous weight, stagger.

MacFarlane flinched from the blow that shook the cockpit, but then he was stunned by the abnormality displayed on the screen before him. It showed that the armor around the punched flank had shattered and the artificial muscle beneath it had been torn apart. Jigoro's fist had reached the ingenuity of the Human Race MacFarlane had spoken of.

"Hah-ha! I did it!"

'Impossible! That can't be!'

"Turning your eyes away from reality is unbecoming."

MacFarlane was a scientist with little experience in combat, so the completely unexpected situation had apparently shaken him so badly that he forgot to watch Genjuro. Genjuro calmly walked closer and slashed at the armor on the left calf. The odachi's blade cut through the armor and artificial muscle effortlessly, without making a sound.

'W-what is happening!? This reinforced armor... to think a mere monster other than a Dragon could... Eek!?'

"Heh! It's simple enough!"

"Our attacks are the equal of a Dragon's."

MacFarlane's emotions were shifting from agitation to fear, but that gave Jigoro and Genjuro no reason to hold back. They did not let up on their attacks, damaging the armor and artificial muscles, then even the frame that served as the machine's skeleton.

'S-stop it!!!'

"I'll tear you limb from limb!"

"Which would you prefer: rough chopping or mincing?"

With a scream that held even more terror than when Shio had shot him, MacFarlane deployed the reinforced armor's weapons without regard for the consequences. The claws rapidly heated until they glowed red, while mysterious protrusions emerged from both shoulders, both knees, the chest, the bases of the wings, and the base of the tail. Electricity burst from them and covered his entire body. A blade made of magic power formed at the end of the tail, and a cannon barrel large enough for a human head to fit inside emerged from the mouth.

This was the true form of the '35-Type Dragon-Form Magitech Reinforced Armor.' Its claws, heated to inflict fire damage while increasing their cutting power; its electric armor, generated by power generators throughout the body; its tail transformed into a gigantic blade; and the cannon emerging from its mouth, capable of launching an attack modeled after 【Dragon Breath】. Every one of them consumed a terrifying amount of magic power, but they were all extremely powerful weapons. If he activated them all, Jigoro and Genjuro should have been defeated.

'Y-you are a threat! I will certainly annihilate you here...'

"Shut up! Just stand there and get wrecked, you busted piece of junk!"

However, Jigoro ignored the lightning armor and charged straight in. As a Flame-Thunder Evil Oni, he possessed 【Lightning Resistance】, so it could not be called particularly effective against him. Even so, his Health was steadily falling from the side effect of 【Oni God's Iron Body】, so he needed to deal with it quickly for Genjuro's sake as well.

"So all I have to do is smash these, right?"

'T-the output!?'

He therefore began breaking the protrusions that were clearly generating the lightning armor, one after another, by force. Each one he broke lowered the output, which reduced the damage accordingly. The electrical effects visibly weakened, until they finally vanished completely from the front.

'B-but! There are still weapons left...'

"Go, old man!"

"Shaaaaaaaaaaa!"

While Jigoro kept MacFarlane occupied, Genjuro had moved to his rear right. The moment MacFarlane aimed the cannon in his mouth at Jigoro, Genjuro seized the opportunity and attacked with all his might. There was a sharp whoosh, and then, unbelievably, a single slash from Genjuro severed the reinforced armor's neck.

'No! Impossible!'

"Here, Jigoro. I'll leave the main body to you."

"Leave it to me, old man!"

MacFarlane was speechless at what had happened, but something even more horrifying began. Jigoro started tearing the armor off by brute force. Metal warped, and the artificial muscles tore apart with ragged snaps. In the cockpit, short-circuited equipment spat sparks, while alarms warning of abnormalities rang out.

'S-stop! Please stop! What do you want!?'

MacFarlane began begging for his life at this late stage. He had little combat experience and had never been driven this far before. As a result, he had succumbed to fear.

"What do I want? Isn't it obvious?"

"Eeeek!?"

As he continued destroying the armor by force, Jigoro finally reached the cockpit. He grabbed MacFarlane by the scruff of the neck with his left hand and dragged him out.

"P-please help me! Spare me!"

"Your head, you piece of shit."

"Giii..."

Jigoro put him in a rear naked choke and twisted harder, forcing his neck to turn in a direction it never should have. Thus, the boss—Cyborg David MacFarlane, far weaker than his own servants—was defeated without anyone heeding his pathetic pleas for mercy.