“Bawk?! I didn’t know that either!”
“That’s because I didn’t tell you, bawk. I didn’t want you to panic before you went to grab Ren, bawk. Here I was praying she would come back to her senses while you were gone.”
“Do you have any idea why this happened?”
“I’m not sure, bawk. While I was trying to grab some helpful monsters for Kokoru, maybe one of them was a real nasty one... bawk.”
“This isn’t some dumb argument between you guys, is it, bawk?”
“N-No, my boy! Bagawk! We’re as happy as can be, bawk! In fact, we were just trying to make you some new brothers and sisters—”
“Baaawk! I don’t wanna hear about what my parents are doin’ at night, bawk! You’re embarrassin’ me, bawk!”
Wow. I really had to side with Kokoru here. I was frankly a little worse off for having heard that.
“Cheep?! Our family’s growing, cheep!”
“Yaaay! Cheep cheep!”
“What should we name them, cheep?!”
Aww, these little cheepers are so young and innocent.
“Finally, we get our own underlings! Chee-hee-heep!”
“I’m gonna push ’em around, cheep!”
“Let them experience the pain of life! Cheep!”
Oh. Never mind.
We were busy, so I decided to ignore the little psychopaths. They were Kokoru’s problem, not mine. I needed to pivot to the problem at hand instead of these scary young villains.
“So, y’see, I don’t wanna tell the knights and make it a whole big thing, bawk. What if my wife gets locked up in prison?! I think she’s being controlled by some baddie, bawk.”
“Hmm. That does sound likely.”
“Right now, the barrier I made with our product is still working. The monsters can’t escape, bawk! You’ve gotta do something right now!”
“Yes, sir! I follow so far, but how do I actually get inside?”
The barrier surrounded the entire estate, so it didn’t look like we’d be able to find an easy way in. I tried touching the barrier since it was right in front of me, but I felt a pretty strong pushback.
“Take this with you, bawk! This charm will let you into the barrier, bawk.”
Kokoru’s dad handed me a charm.
“I want one too, bawk!”
“Of course, my boy. Here’s one for you too! Bad as the situation is, I’m glad I can count on you when the going gets tough, bawk. You’re such a big man now.”
“Bawwwk... Don’t butter me up until we come back safe, bawk.”
“Go and save Momma for us, bawk!”
“Yes sir, bawk! Let’s get going, Ren!”
“Woo! We got this!”
With charms in hand, Kokoru and I entered the barrier. Rather than pushing me away this time, it sucked me right in.
“All right, boys! Let’s win this!”
“Bawk! Leave it to me, bawk!”
“Chirp! Chichirp!”
My two companions were good and fired up. Without Akira or another sword dancer, my firepower would be way lower, but I still had to do my best for Kokoru.
To make my drama cannon as OP as it was, my ultimates always included Final Strike to ensure that I dealt major damage. Final Strike had a five-minute cooldown, so I couldn’t use it multiple times in succession. I usually had Akira use her Sword Samba on me to bring it off cooldown immediately, doubling my instant firepower.
As it was just Kokoru and myself, I would have to wait a long time after using my ultimate. That meant I had to think carefully about when to use it. Without my ultimate, all I had on me was the symbologist’s bottom-of-the-barrel abilities.
Altogether, my best option was to use Elemental Circle to squeeze out damage. It gave me a little bit of fighting ability in times like this. I mean, that was probably what it was intended to do. It was time to take up the mantle and fight!
“Brrrargh!”
As we entered the courtyard, monsters immediately blocked our way. They were like giant bulls, each with a giant horn protruding from its head. Their eyes were ridiculously bloodshot. They were called Horned Buffalo.
I didn’t know what had made them so mad, but they were downright enraged.
“Here I am, bawk! You don’t get to rampage around my house! Come to me, bawk, Infernal Armor!”
Kokoru summoned a flashy, orange suit of armor. It was empty on the inside, mobilized by some unknown power. It was basically a monster in the form of living armor.
“Combine, bawk!”
Clink, cling, clang! Kaching!
Accompanied by cool, metallic noises, Kokoru turned into a fully armored knight! This was the Armor Possession skill that monsters like the Infernal Armor could use. I had to give it props for changing its shape to fit the round, little body of a chicken.
By doing this, Kokoru’s stats went up to match those of the Infernal Armor. Anyone stronger than the armor would’ve been weakened by it, but for Kokoru, it was a dramatic power-up. His baseline stats were too useless to fight with, so by using the Infernal Armor’s Armor Possession skill, Kokoru could wield his true power.
You could say he was like a tokusatsu hero!
“Baaawk!”
He charged the enemy head-on, relying on the armor’s strength to slam into them! After a painful-sounding bonk! a message popped up in the logs.
Infernal Armor attacked.
Dealt 163 damage to Horned Buffalo!
Hey, it worked!
From there, Kokoru and the Horned Buffalo duked it out. Kokoru had the advantage, grinding down the Horned Buffalo’s HP over time.
It was time for me to get to work too! I couldn’t let Kokoru take all the glory!
“Equipment Set D!”
Just like before, Set D was the full-on Death Chariot gear. After suddenly transforming into a tiny Death Chariot, I used my magic.
“Elemental Circle!”
As usual, I targeted my pet dragon with the effect. Draco’s Target Marker skill changed my immobile circles into ones that followed him wherever he went.
A black circle appeared, just as planned.
“B-Bawk?! R-Ren, what the heck are you wearing?!”
Indeed, Kokoru hadn’t met the Death Chariot, so this was his first time seeing the armor. It was natural that he’d been baffled by my sudden transformation into a mini Death Chariot in all its terrifying glory.
“If I change into this and use Elemental Circle, it always comes out dark!”
The dark circle came with an HP-absorption effect, which was very useful for the two of us since we didn’t have healing magic. Well, it was possible that Kokoru had a monster in stock that could heal him.