Chapter 220
As we advanced, even those of us with only ordinary eyesight began to see what lay beyond the fog. A castle wall made of what appeared to be the same material as the Black Wall separating the outside world from the 'Secret City of the Mist-Weeping Princess' surrounded the absurdly enormous fog-spewing gray oak in the center of the city.
That fog-spewing gray oak, however, extended upward from inside a Western-style palace, bursting through its roof. The ruins scattered within the castle wall were covered in dust, but the stones themselves seemed to be white. A magnificent palace of pure white must have stood here once, but now it merely exposed its pitiful state.
The castle gate leading to the palace had apparently decayed and disappeared, leaving only an entrance that anyone could freely pass through. Instead, figures stood on either side of the entrance like sentinels. They were humanoid monsters with builds rivaling Eiji's, clad in sturdy-looking metal armor.
The armor's shape was almost identical to the Living Heavy Armor we had fought yesterday. They were armed with large shields and halberds, spear-like weapons with axes attached to their tips. The weapons appeared to be fairly high quality.
Their weapons were impressive, but their armor was even more elaborately decorated. The entire armor was covered in engraved metalwork, and each piece was edged in gold. The gold trim had peeled away in places, which lent them a melancholy air, but there was no doubt that they were very fine suits of equipment.
Even so, how could I tell they were monsters despite being fully clad in armor? Well, their faces... No, their heads were missing!
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Race: Headless Elite Royal Guard Lv75
Job: Elite Royal Guard Lv5
Skill: 【Guardian Halberd Art】
【Guardian Shield Art】
【Guardian Armor Art】
【Super Vitality Enhancement】
【Strength Enhancement】
【Super Defense Enhancement】
【Dexterity Enhancement】
【Cursed Blood】
【Command】
【Status Ailment Immunity】
【Critical Immunity: Neck】
【Slashing Weakness】
【Light-Attribute Weakness】
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So this Headless Elite Royal Guard was Undead too. Both were level 75, naturally making them higher-level opponents than us. Just as the name 'Headless' implied, they had no heads, and black mist seeped from the collars of their armor.
They had no special Skills, but in exchange, they possessed many evolved Skills. Since the evolved ones were weapon- and stat-related, they were probably simply powerful. No matter what clever strategy we tried, they might just smash through it head-on.
"They're Undead, weak to slashing and light attributes. As you'd expect from their appearance, their defense is high."
"Heh! The stronger they are, the better!"
Faced with powerful enemies, Jigoro charged in at once. We had expected him to do that, so nobody was surprised. He could probably win on his own, and he might get angry if we interfered, so we would leave him to it. Still, there was always a chance something might go wrong, so we would stay ready to support him at any moment.
As Jigoro charged, the two Headless Elite Royal Guards began to move slowly. They had not twitched before, but apparently they would intercept anyone who approached the gate. There was no doubt that they were gatekeepers.
"Ooooooooooh!"
"What?!"
"R-Reinforcements!"
Once the Headless Elite Royal Guards recognized us, they struck their large shields with their halberds, producing a raucous din. Then, no fewer than ten similar monsters came filing out from inside the gate!
These monsters were naturally headless as well. However, they carried relatively ordinary weapons: one-handed swords and round shields. Their armor was ornate, but the decorations appeared simpler than those of the two gatekeepers. I decided to use 【Appraisal】 for now.
――――――――――
Race: Headless Royal Guard Lv61–64
Job: Royal Guard Lv1–4
Skill: 【Sword Art】
【Shield Art】
【Guardian Armor Art】
【Vitality Enhancement】
【Strength Enhancement】
【Super Defense Enhancement】
【Dexterity Enhancement】
【Cursed Blood】
【Status Ailment Immunity】
【Critical Immunity: Neck】
【Slashing Weakness】
【Light-Attribute Weakness】
――――――――――
Apparently, they were Royal Guards rather than Elite Royal Guards. Were they subordinates? Their Skills were inferior, but they still appeared to be simply powerful. This looked like it would come down to a clash of strength against strength.
"No choice. Genzuro, can you take the other strong one?"
"Mm."
"Everyone else, take down the group! Let's go!"
When it came to powerful enemies, we simply set our strongest against them. The two strongest among us had always been Jigoro and Genzuro. The front-line members had improved under their training, but beating either of them was difficult even in a match. In a real battle, it would be out of the question. As for the rear guard, an enemy would close the distance and beat them down in an instant.
"Eiji, Mikero, Karu, draw the enemies' attention! Sei and the others, circle around from the right; Kanna and Raga, from the left!"
"I'll handle the remaining front-line enemies."
"Please do. Rear guard, support them according to the situation."
By the time we sensed the enemies, I had already finished casting buffs on everyone. That meant I could support them with magic from the very beginning this time.
I did not think these were opponents we could defeat easily, but we could not spend all our resources here. We might struggle, but we had to win while preserving our strength, or we would not be able to get through the boss battle that was probably waiting inside the palace. This would be a battle under extremely difficult conditions, but we would take it on!
◆◇◆◇◆◇
While Izaam and the others were engaged in a many-on-many battle with the Headless Royal Guards, Jigoro was locked in a life-or-death one-on-one battle with a Headless Elite Royal Guard. However, it had been Jigoro who was constantly attacking from the start, while the Headless Elite Royal Guard remained completely focused on defense.
"Come on! All you do is defend, huh?!"
Jigoro launched a fluid succession of punches and kicks, but the shield caught every one of them. He even tried acrobatic attacks designed to catch the enemy off guard, but every single one was blocked. It was a truly ironclad defense.
Jigoro taunted the enemy aloud, but he was calmly analyzing it in his mind. At the same time, he was devising a strategy for defeating it.
(Everything's so damn heavy that he doesn't budge at all. That shield's too damn big for even a leg sweep to connect. He's kinda like Eiji, but he's a completely different type. He's slow, but he leaves hardly any openings.)
Genzuro was struggling just as much as Jigoro. He swung his spear and odachi, but he too was unable to inflict any damage.
(The most troublesome thing about this fellow is that he uses the halberd for defense as well. It has become more of a special shield than a weapon. It is like facing an opponent with two differently shaped shields... Not to my taste.)
The Headless Elite Royal Guard's 【Guardian Halberd Art】 was, as its name implied, a Skill focused on using weapons defensively. It included defensive combat techniques, and also allowed the user to employ some techniques that normally could only be used with a shield.
Regardless of Genzuro's preferences, this was not an opponent the two of them could easily break through, even with their abilities. They had managed to slip past the large shield and halberd a few times and nearly land attacks. However, their fists and blades had never actually reached their target.
(What the hell was that movement just now? He slid that shield into place with an impossible move!)
(I had completely broken his stance. Recovering from there should have been impossible... Could that have been a combat technique? How troublesome.)
The ironclad defense of 【Guardian Shield Art】, the weapon-based defense enabled by 【Guardian Halberd Art】, and finally 【Guardian Armor Art】 made the 'impossible movements' they mentioned possible. 【Armor Art】 included a technique called 'Seeing Through' that allowed the user to perceive the trajectory of an enemy's attack. As an advanced version of that, 【Guardian Armor Art】 included a technique that put the user into a posture capable of defending against an attack.
Thus, even when Jigoro used acrobatic movements to get behind the enemy, or Genzuro knocked aside the shield and halberd to throw it off balance, a defense with either the shield or weapon was ready in time. To break through, they needed to attack repeatedly enough to overwhelm its ability to defend, or use some means of dealing damage through the shield. Surrounding it with several people would make things easier, but one-on-one, the conditions were extremely difficult.
"Heh-heh, this is fun! I'll beat you into the ground no matter what!"
"A defense impossible in reality... My blood is boiling."
However, the two fighting now were battle junkies whose hearts leaped at the prospect of facing powerful foes. Rather than faltering or shrinking back, they grew even more eager to fight when faced with an opponent unlike any they had fought before.
The two of them each changed their fighting styles. Instead of darting around swiftly, Jigoro began raining down punches and kicks with all his might, assuming that the shield would block them. Genzuro concentrated his attacks on the enemy's right side—the side holding the weapon.
The dull clang of metal striking metal rang all the way to Izaam and the others, but the two closest to the battle did not react in the slightest. They simply swung fist and blade with single-minded concentration.
"Ooooraaah!!!"
"Seiyaaah!!!"
Jigoro's fist cracked the shield at exactly the same moment that Genzuro's odachi sliced off the axe head of the halberd. These were the results of their strategy. Jigoro had concentrated his blows on the center of the shield, while Genzuro had kept cutting at the base of the axe head.
Their objective was to take away even one of the enemy's means of defense. They had destroyed different things, but their goal had been the same. The strategy itself was simple, but only their skill had made it possible.
"As expected of you, old man."
"Likewise, Jigoro. But from here on, we should fight the two of them together."
The two Headless Elite Royal Guards whose weapons had been destroyed quickly assessed the situation and acted accordingly. The one whose shield had been destroyed gripped the halberd with both hands, while the one whose halberd had been destroyed held the shield with both hands and advanced. They seemed to be compensating for each other's weakened defenses.
"I'll take the shield!"
"Then I shall cut down the halberd."
The two charged once more to destroy the shield and halberd. Each intended to destroy the same weapon as before.
However, the enemies were not content to be beaten. Once they began wielding their respective shield and halberd with both hands, they started reducing the strain on their weapons by deflecting and knocking attacks aside. They also began trying to strike with the shields and thrusting quickly with the halberds.
"Ha! You're more nimble than you'd expect!"
"Hmm, using both hands, they can match us in skill. Frustrating as it is, I'm starting to enjoy this!"
Rather than weakening from being reduced to a single weapon, the Headless Elite Royal Guards had, in a sense, become stronger. The two smiled at them, delighted that they could still enjoy a battle against powerful opponents. They swung their fists and blades with even greater force and sharpness, determined to smash through the guards' now-stronger defenses.