Chapter 358: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 23

"Hahhahhahha! Trying to stall me with trash mobs is the absolute worst move you could possibly make!!"

I bisect a giant mosquito in a single blow, and my HP recovers.
Taking a step forward, the effect of Levin Trigger: Hazard chips away at my HP, triggering the effect of "Dead Horizon."

More trash clones are spawned to halt my advance, and as I cut them down, my HP recovers once again.
As time passes, my HP continuously drains, completely satisfying the conditions for "Dead Horizon" over and over again.

And with every death I bring, the mourning dress grows stronger, and the gravestone grows Lighter!!

"Ssha, here we go, here we go, here we go!!"

Memento Mori. A massive greatsword forged by fusing the power of two weapons—the General whose head was stolen by his berserker bride, driven mad by love. Perhaps it should be considered entirely natural, but this sword activates its abilities based directly on the number of monsters its wielder has defeated.

First, the instant-death effect against enemies with a lower level than my own.
It seems the instant-death probability is calculated by subtracting the target's level from the user's level. Combined with the effects of R.I.P., this allows me to force utterly unreasonable instant deaths upon low-level monsters.
Granted, if the level gap is that massive, simply punching them normally would basically be an instant kill anyway. However, being able to force a "trash game" experience onto fairly high-level monsters is excessively vicious, not to mention brutal. As expected, RNG is pure evil...!!

Secondly, every time I defeat a monster with this weapon, the weapon's durability recovers. Honestly, you could call it a downgraded version of the Duxram. However, considering this sword was specifically designed with the premise of being used alongside R.I.P., it's a perfectly logical effect.
It's not like effects impacting durability are entirely unique anyway.

And finally... the more kill score this sword accumulates, the "lighter" it becomes. Strictly speaking, the physical burden on the user is progressively reduced. To an outside observer, it looks exactly as if I'm effortlessly swinging around a sword that shouldn't even be liftable... even though its actual weight remains completely identical to that of a greatsword.

And it isn't just the weight that changes. Once this sword surpasses a certain threshold of lightness, its very nature as a weapon fundamentally shifts. For example, it allows the use of straight-sword skills that normally wouldn't be compatible, and despite being an oversized greatsword that obviously should occupy both hand slots...

"Did you think I'd be completely defenseless just because I finished my swing!? You're too naive!!"

It can be wielded with one hand.
Thinking it had found an opening after I swung the greatsword, one of the heads carelessly lunged at me for a bite, only to be sliced apart by Areadbhair and let out a scream of agony.

That being said, even if it feels as light as styrofoam, a massive object is still a massive object, and it remains incredibly difficult to maneuver. After all, this is essentially a snowboard with a handle attached to it, you know? It's one thing to just swing a snowboard around with one hand, but manipulating it freely is an entirely different level of difficulty.

But looking at it another way, as long as the movements are simple, I can completely control it with one hand. For example, when I want to unleash a full-power slash into the opening I just created using Areadbhair Rebuild...!

"I'm going to whittle you down until you only have 1% of your resources left...!!"

Come on, bring out the trash mobs, keep 'em coming. You aren't the only one who gets stronger by racking up kills.
It was starting to feel less like swinging a sword and more like swinging an absurdly massive Uchiwa (fan), but being massive also means it stands out that much more.

Alternating seamlessly between the bastard sword and the greatsword, I plant myself right in front of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. While my HP constantly yo-yos up and down, I start wrestling away the aggro from "Scar," who currently held almost the entirety of its attention.

"Daaaah, this thing is so hard to use!"

Tossing Areadbhair Rebuild aside, I grip Memento Mori with both hands and swing it with absolutely everything I have.
One of the heads preparing to unleash a breath attack at me takes a brutal uppercut to the jaw. Looking up as the misfired breath violently detonates inside its closed mouth with a muffled explosion, I launch an even fiercer offensive. Retreat is no longer an option in my vocabulary. I don't care who does it, someone is going to pierce its weak point and close out this overwhelmingly disadvantageous battle with a victory.

If it focuses its attention on me, "Scar" becomes completely free to act, and vice-versa. It has multiple heads so it can hold separate aggro targets simultaneously? Who gives a damn. We have more Heads than it does anyway.

"Attack, attack, keep attacking!!"

By having "Scar" pin down the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's main body while I handle all the clones it spawns, we can completely lock its aggro down in one place.
Well, I say it like I'm doing something incredibly impressive, but in reality, I'm just standing in the corner cleaning up trash mobs while "Scar" does 80% of the heavy lifting. I mean, the instant-death effect against lower-level enemies is just way too convenient... Sure, its utility is limited since I literally have to kill trash mobs while equipping it, but once the conditions are met, it completely turns into a Musou game...

The arrows flying in out of pure obligation were also slowly racking up decent damage since there were so many of them.
Sadly, ten arrows is roughly equivalent to a single one of Emul's spells, meaning they're absolute garbage from a DPS standpoint. But pointing that out would just turn this into a miserable, soul-crushing marathon of simply trying to increase firepower, so I keep my mouth shut. Well, just keeping the tail-head suppressed makes things significantly easier, so they're definitely contributing.

However, their aim is bizarrely accurate, resulting in a relentless barrage of arrows constantly colliding around the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's massive maw. We're definitely cornering it, but we're still lacking that final push.

We have firepower. We have speed. And though it only applies to chip damage, I even secured enough durability. So what's missing...? I've already found the answer to that. What we need is aggro, and one more thing.

"Deep Slaughter!"

"Yeees?"

"Give me your aggro!!"

I know exactly what you can do. Among the magic you've learned, there should absolutely be a spell that amplifies aggro. I just came up with a really quick way to multiply our aggro generation. Basically, we just need to increase our Headcount.

"My feelings... please accept them! 【External Hate (Outsourced Centripetal Force)】!"

Attention artificially reinforced from the outside. I couldn't shake the sensation of something completely disgusting crawling up my back, but I just had to accept it as a necessary demerit.
However, the effect was undeniable. Stealing aggro away from "Scar," one of the heads turned its gaze (loaded with pure thermal energy) directly toward me.

"Ah, hey, don't move from that spot."

"Isn't standing completely still basically a death sentence!?"

"Deep Slaughter, stay."

"Arf, arf! Whine!"

One stack of aggro isn't enough. If the aggro I can generate alone is 50... then multiplying me into two people makes it 100.

"Aggro separation. If I generate aggro again after that, the total effectively doubles...!"

Vorpal Secret Art 【Fading Mirror】 : Revised Stance. It sounds like a simple rename for a Lv.MAX skill, but the name implies there's still another stage waiting beyond it. Even so, since the effect itself is identical, just with increased values and durations, the way I use it remains exactly the same.
It severs my current aggro and leaves it behind as a decoy, diverting the enemy's attention away from my actual player body. Looking at it the other way around, if I generate aggro again right after, the total aggro I hold on the field doubles.

"Duration is twenty seconds! What's the recast!?"

"Thirty seconds! But if you're okay with lowering the effect value, I can cast it again in ten seconds...!"

"Go!"

I have to max out my aggro within ten seconds!
I cleanly slice a frog clone lunging at the decoy in half, and instantly close the distance to deliver a diagonal rising slash into the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's torso. As expected, it really hates having that spot attacked; it twists its massive body trying to create distance... but I won't let it escape.

Readjusting my grip on the greatsword, I twist my hips and unleash a full-power reverse spin. Exactly as if reversing the entire sequence I just performed, I close the distance while spinning my entire body along with the blade. Launching into my second rotation, I simultaneously activate 【Sever and Divide】, drawing a diagonal line that cleaves straight into the Devouring Great Crimson Clad.

"You're in my way!!"

Samildánach (Divine Arm of a Hundred Excellences) activated! A fist-strike skill scaling off Luck. Having evolved into a Triple-Digit skill, this mystical fist—which boosts a random stat other than HP, MP, or STM upon a successful critical hit—sends a fly the size of a basketball flying away. Whoops, would you look at that? Its massive maw is wide open and completely defenseless right in front of me.

If so, I'm absolutely not going to let this chance slip by. Pulling my fist back, I immediately grab Memento Mori and, manipulating it exactly like a billiard cue, unleash a thrust aimed directly at the red sphere deep inside its oral cavity... However, before my lethal strike can even reach the red sphere, a devastating scream bursts from its mouth, violently and forcibly blowing my body backward.

"QooaaaaaaaAaAAAAAAaaaAAaAaaaAAAA!!!"

"Kuoh"

A breath attack!? No, wait, that was just a simple roar! It might have dealt zero damage, but attaching a knockback effect to it is pretty cheeky. Don't get lazy, is that it? Bring it on. The heads... three of them have their aggro locked onto me. It looks like it allocated the remaining one to keep "Scar" in check, and plans to guarantee my death with the other three.
Tottori and the Forest-folks are keeping that annoying tail-head perfectly suppressed. With this, I can focus entirely on dealing with this without any distractions.

"Say, Sunraku-kun, is there really any point to me just standing here like this?"

"You're necessary to fulfill the skill's activation conditions. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yay, thanks for the 'Woman of Convenience' declaration!"

Equipment check, distance check, action induction check. I'm counting on you, resurrected weapon of the Divine Age, the Mirror of the Nether-King reflecting the Abyss!

The three heads directing their pure killing intent toward me—a total of six eye sockets across them—burn away from within with blinding flashes of light. Compared to the attacks fired from its mouth, these three lasers (Heat Gazes) were specialized entirely in concentrated, single-point piercing power, unleashed for the sole purpose of killing me and me alone.

Rising to meet them is the fully blossomed Mirror Shield of the Nether-King (Dis Pater). Not a mirror that merely reflects light, but the wisdom of the Divine Age that swallows light entirely and converts it into pure power, catching the murderous gazes head-on.

"...【Exceed Charge】!!"

Clash.

Author's Afterword
The sight of someone violently ping-ponging around the 10% HP threshold while swinging an oversized greatsword with movements resembling a 3x speed Abyssal Walker is undeniably the behavior of a complete pervert. His battle style itself belongs to the Fume Knight, but his movements are way too light on his feet.

By the way, DeepThro-san was actually working pretty hard behind the scenes: dealing with stray shots heading toward Tottori's group, perfectly imitating Sunraku's movements on the fly to contribute to the firepower, and tilting her head in utter confusion as Sunraku casually deflected her enhancement buffs.