Chapter 522: An Orchestra For You, Part 4
Author's Preface
Inventoria is amazing right now (amazing)
The corpse of the Blue Dragon, seemingly based on its state when I fought it, charges toward me. I evade it, twisting my body to dodge the laser fired from its tail.
The Devouring Great Crimson Clad... probably the very first Raid Boss to be defeated, and it's no secret that I was among the members who took it down. Obviously.
But there are a few problems. Wethermon was practically a solo fight, and the Scorpion is inherently a solo fight, so they were fine, but this one in particular was a foe that couldn't be defeated without a party.
And above all...
"I don't remember the exact steps we took to kill it...!!"
Well, I remember the general gist of it. The problem is I just don't remember the exact timing and how each phase triggered.
I mean, my encounter rate for events is higher than a dog's chance of getting hit a stick, alright? No amount of memory capacity would be enough... Whoa, close! Cut it out with the simultaneous lasers!! Also, which phase is it where the number of heads drastically increases again?
The annoying thing about beams is that they generally can't be guarded against. Well, I have the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King, so that issue is solved for me, but speaking generally.
And while having a shield is huge, the enemy has multiple heads, meaning multiple muzzles waiting to fire, so I highly doubt one shield is going to be enough to block everything.
Plus, the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King is surprisingly heavy, so I'm better off dedicating myself to evasion.
"Besides...!"
I confirmed it during the Scorpion fight just now: the monsters reproduced by this Orchestra aren't necessarily hostile only to me. If it's going to reproduce what happened in the past, if it's going to trace the battle against the Devouring Great Crimson Clad.
"Come on out, brother, let's team up one more time...!!"
On the crimson-stained stage, Orchestra's performance heralds his entrance.
Light flowing like the wind from out of nowhere swirls and clumps together, taking the shape of three heads and a sturdy torso capable of supporting them.
Not "Scar-red", but the reproduced Draculus Dinocerberus from his "Covered in scar" era lets out a roar.
That's right, just that pervert, the cowards' Hero Tottori, Emul, and I couldn't have defeated the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. The only reason we managed to win was entirely thanks to this guy joining the fight. MvM—one of the techniques used to pit monsters against each other... but even in a reproduced battle, it still gets me pumped up.
"BGM! Turn up the sound pressure! This is the climax!!"
And sure enough, it did just that. The orchestra bundled the melody at such a massive volume it felt like the sound itself was physically striking me.
Then, completely contrasting her plain face, the "Diva's" song resounded clearly and powerfully, commanding even the clashing sounds of the instrument groups as if they were competing against each other.
I have no idea exactly where the Third Movement places me in the overall Orchestra boss fight, but judging by the scale of the orchestra, I'm probably around the midway point.
『───Red light, red flame! Clashing fighting spirits, the Hero stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the three-headed dragon, exchanging glances... and fighting!』
Because clearly, compared to the First and Second Movements, the tension of the song is significantly higher, like the build-up right before the chorus.
Even a dull mob face starts exuding a certain presence if she raises her voice without a shred of hesitation amidst the battle between "Scar" and the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. It's safe to say the woman dominating the "sound" in this place was truly a "Diva."
"Whoops,"
This won't do. The protagonist of the heroic epic can't just stand around spaced out. In MvM, the standard theory is to let the monsters handle the aggro between themselves while you poke at them from the side.
But back then, partly because I was fired up... I feel like I was a lot more aggressive.
"A top-tier attacker can adapt to the monster... take this!!"
I dashed right under the reproduced "Scar's" crotch. Precisely because it was reproduced exactly as it was back then, I hammered my right fist—clad in the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets—into the massive, tooth-bared, closed maw on its chest to expose the core protected solely by that giant "mouth."
"Shatter! Writhe! Get hypersensitivity in your teeth right now!"
Times like this are when the drawbacks of dabbling in various weapon types really show. Or rather, since I rely entirely on mobility and basic physical strikes, I have way too few offensive skills... But what I don't have, I don't have! Eat this! Get periodontal disease!
Perhaps reflecting its behavioral tendencies from back then, the reproduced "Scar" was entirely focused on glaring at and fighting the reproduced Devouring Great Crimson Clad. But just because it wasn't hostile toward the human at its feet didn't mean it was going to be considerate of me either.
The trick is not to get too greedy, and not to stay in one spot for too long. But sting like a bee!
"Napalm, incoming!"
I quickly retreat. The pu... highly flammable phlegm spat out by "Scar" sticks to the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. The next instant, the ignited phlegm turns into a fire that won't easily go out.
"Gyorarararararararrrrriri!!!?"
Nice, that's an effective hit. The true nature of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad is a swarm entity, a massive amount of locusts acting as a single organism. So, to put it extremely, blunt strikes and slashes don't do much damage. Given its massive size, it probably only feels like the difference between being scratched by the tip of a toothpick or having the blunt end pushed against it.
But fire deals area-of-effect damage, and the puke-napalm doesn't extinguish easily. When it's on your side, it becomes an incredibly reliable source of DoT (Damage over Time).
That being said......... I have a concern. Even I clearly remember the memories of that battle: me, "Scar", and the Devouring Great Crimson Clad... there's an event where all three of us fall simultaneously.
And no matter how you look at it, that event is absolutely not something you can just brush off as, "It's just a player's single spell, we can probably just ignore it." Meaning, what's going to happen is...
『───Looking up, the earth. Looking down, the abyss. Earth in the heavens, darkness below. Oh, the world turns upside down...!!』
The moment I saw a humanoid figure holding a staff I recognized far too well (though probably not the real one) appear in the audience seats, my aggro toward that guy spiked so high I instantly decided to punch him into next week with zero hesitation.
"That piece of shit perverrrrrt...!"
The Coliseum, which wasn't cramped but shouldn't have been this spacious, was "expanded" with a movement that completely defied the laws of physics.
It wasn't on the level of expanding with an earth-shattering rumble. If I had to describe it with sound effects, it expanded with the casual ease of a "shloop" or "bloop," turning this theater into something broad enough to be called a Stadium. And its depth too...
"Guh......... fine! If I gotta do it, I'll do it!!"
Back then, I didn't have High Connection skills, but it's different now. Critical Speed does not allow you to stand still. How do I descend to the bottom of this abyss? Escaping to Inventoria mid-air is an option, but considering the event that happens right after this, it's better to be at the bottom.
A super-massive object approaches from directly above, threatening to crush the abyss. The "Diva's" song flowing from the edge of the massive hole only sings about what's about to happen; it doesn't teach me how to get down. Damn it, give me a concrete plan, a concrete plan!
But there's only one way to land from a high place using Critical Speed: accelerate downwards with three steps, and use the two landing steps to survive. It's a semi-suicidal maneuver that forces reason through unreason.
"But, just as an insurance policy...!"
I throw the Aspiring Blades of the Hero straight down. The golden sword falls slightly ahead of me, vanishing into the darkness.........
*Kinn*
"Right, here!!!"
In the darkness, it's neither a Holy Sword nor a Magic Sword, but a golden sword that tethers my life. Relying on the sound of it hitting the bottom, I swiftly slam the soles of both feet onto the ground.
Critical Speed has a tiny "delay" between the moment you step and the moment it activates.
It's an incredibly small window, barely enough to squeeze in a single step... but that's exactly why I can pull off a stunt like this. By rapidly striking the ground with both feet, I expend two steps' worth of acceleration at once: Double Drive!!
It felt like a massive force had punched me upwards from beneath the ground; the downward energy carrying the acceleration of three steps was overwritten by the upward energy of two steps. But it seems the height wasn't enough. The falling energy, packed with three steps' worth of momentum, couldn't fully balance against the fourth and fifth steps, which increase in acceleration with every stride.
"Doaaaahh!!?"
Which is why this happened. My body, launched upwards, spins wildly through the abyss once again... Yup, I'm the strongest! Yup, pure genius! Yup, a perfect hundred points!!!
While using recovery items to heal the roughly 60% of my HP I lost, I turn my eyes to the two monsters falling with a thunderous roar. Ah, we're doing this on fast-forward, are we?
"【Teleport: Storage Space】!!"
Ignoring the "Red" that had transformed into that muscle cyclops as it fell, I escaped into the storage space, exactly as I had done in the past.
Author's Afterword
I'll continue to do my best moving forward. (I got stuck in Sekiro, so I'm updating. The castle keep again?!)
Translator's Note
- [1] Sekiro requires the player to climb Ashina Castle to the top of the Keep (Tenshukaku) multiple times throughout the game to fight incredibly difficult bosses (Genichiro, and later Great Shinobi Owl)
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