“This is my house! You’re the one who’d better leave, bawk! Get the heck outta here!”
“YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!”
The Gargoyle inhaled deeply before breathing fire all over the place!
Fwoooom!
Thick belts of fire fell upon us, dealing damage.
The Giga-Gargoyle spat fire!
Dealt 341 damage to Ren!
Dealt 332 damage to Infernal Armor!
“Owww, bawk! I’m gonna be fried chickeeen!”
“Ngh! Not bad, for a mid boss!”
He wasn’t as offensively powerful as the Death Chariot or the Hadean Rose, but there were only two of us. Our sole healing method was the HP absorption of my dark circles, which meant more of those flames would be bad news!
“Leave this to me, bawk! Infernal Armor, end combination! Bawk, you can leave!”
Kokoru sent his Infernal Armor home, returning to normal. He could only summon one monster at a time, so to switch to another, he would have to send his Infernal Armor back first.
“Frost Eagle, come to me! Bawk!”
Heeding his call, a monstrous blue bird appeared. This was another monster Kokoru used during the guild mission. It felt nostalgic to see it after so long.
“Bawk! Ren, get on!”
“Sure!”
Kokoru and I straddled the Frost Eagle’s back. It immediately soared upward and over the Giga-Gargoyle’s head. In such a large space, the Frost Eagle could maneuver with ease.
“GRR! YOU INSOLENT LITTLE...”
The Giga-Gargoyle continued to spit fire, aiming at the soaring Frost Eagle. However, he wouldn’t be able to hit us so easily now that we were in the air!
Fire struck multiple places in the lobby, scorching walls and floors black.
“Bawk?! Stop burning my house, bawk! Where are your manners?!”
“Indoor fires really are annoying!”
“Time to fight fire with ice, bawk! Frost Eagle, use your blizzard!”
Letting out a loud screech, the Frost Eagle dodged the flames, then turned and showered the Giga-Gargoyle with its icy breath.
Frost Eagle spat out a Blizzard.
Dealt 35 damage to Giga-Gargoyle!
“Urk! It’s not working, bawk!”
“Spewing flames doesn’t mean he’s weak to ice, huh?”
That said, the numbers were clearly against us. Our enemy was dealing 300 damage, while we only dealt 30. The Frost Eagle continued to do its best to freeze the enemy, but it didn’t deal much damage at all.
Just then, something dawned on me.
“Oh! That’s it!”
“Bawk? What’s up, Ren?”
“When I give the signal, have the Frost Eagle dive in!”
“Um, okay, bawk!”
Without changing gear, I cast a wide-range Elemental Circle to reduce my MP to almost zero. I was throwing my MP away to prepare for my ultimate.
“All right, dive in now!”
“Bawk! Frost Eagle, dive at that Gargoyle!”
With another cry, the Frost Eagle dove right into the enemy.
What I’d noticed before was this Giga-Gargoyle’s HP bar. We had only dealt three to four hits of 30 damage—around 100 total—but his HP bar had already fallen a few percentages. Based on that, I estimated his HP was somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000! It was one of those enemies with tons of defense but low HP.
Fortunately, my ultimate moves ignored defense! In other words, this was the perfect time for me to shine!
As the Frost Eagle charged into striking range, we were right in front of the Giga-Gargoyle. One blow, and he was gone!
“Ultimate move: Dead Eeend!”
Smaaaaaash!
My blade glowed purple as it fell upon the Giga-Gargoyle!
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 4,984 damage to Giga-Gargoyle!
Ren has defeated Giga-Gargoyle.
“WAAAAARGH!”
The Giga-Gargoyle started to fall apart, the stones falling to the floor.
“I knew it! One blow was all it took!”
High-defense, low-HP enemies were the ideal prey for my drama cannon.
“Bawk! Good job, Ren! You’re as strong as ever, bawk!”
Kokoru jumped off of the Frost Eagle’s back and hopped around with joy.
I alighted too as I replied, “Well, this is my specialty! Without Akira, we’ll have to wait five minutes for the next one, though. Let’s stay here until it comes off cooldown, then we can keep going.”
“Good idea, bawk. Safety first.”
“Yeah. If only Akira were here, we wouldn’t need to wait.”
Akira and the others were doing important work, so there was no point in crying over it.
“Bahahawk. My, what useful information, bawk!”
I heard a chicken’s voice, but it was distinctly feminine.
Could it be...?!
I looked up to the top of the stairs, where the voice came from.
“Momma!” Kokoru called out.
Indeed, it was her. A black crystal pendant hung around her neck. It emitted a strange, dark aura that enveloped Kokoru’s mom.
“What’s that?! Is that what made your mom go mad?!”
“It’s gotta be, bawk! There’s a weird miasma coming out of it! Bawk, are you okay?! Come back to us, Momma!”
“Bawhawhawk! That won’t be happening, bawk! Now that I have finally found a mortal vessel, I, the Dark Lord Veld, will use this as my base to create a land ruled by fear! Baaawk!”
Who the heck is that? Was he sealed in there or something?
Kokoru seemed to be thinking the same thing. “The Dark Lord?! I dunno who you are, bawk, but were you trapped in that necklace?!”
“Indeed, bawk! In centuries past, my mortal form was destroyed and my soul sealed away in this necklace of black crystal! Long have I wandered between hosts, waiting for my ultimate revival, bawk! This is not the first time we have met, bawk—you may remember me as Froi Jasin!”
“Froi?!”
He had been one of the leaders of the Holy Kingdom of Karanaught, a land at war with Kokoru’s home of Mishuria.
So this guy was controlling Froi all that time? The same Froi who was a boss in a bunch of our quests? Then, once Froi went down, this necklace got put up on the market and Kokoru’s father bought it?! Who knew all of these plot threads would intertwine here? What a well-planned event!
“Heh. You don’t sound like much of a dark lord since you’re bawking up a storm.”
“Hmph! I am merely not used to this vessel yet, bawk! Once I am, both body and soul will return to my original form! For hundreds of years, I have slowly been regaining my strength in this dark crystal. Finally, I have the power to recreate my lost form, bawk!”
“Bawk?! What happens to my momma, then?!”