Alone in the White Room, I sat at the PC, handling some Q&A before finalizing my level-up process. With my skill points increased to five, I upgraded Enhanced Summoning and Familiar Enhancement to Level 4. After some deliberation, I also invested in Familiar Sustain Magic Reduction 1. Then, I went back to keep scouting.
✦ ✦ ✦
Back in the forest, where massive trees littered the ground like discarded toys, I applied Deposition on all three familiars and sent them back. Then, I resummoned them with Familiar Enhancement 4. The sustained MP was increased by 40 percent, but that wasn’t a big deal. Urgency was the priority.
The battle with the Terrasaur Agnamu had been loud and conspicuous. It was likely that Azagralith, one of the Four Heavenly Kings and the boss of this area, knew of our presence by now. And I had to defeat this monstrous being—so powerful that our entire party had struggled against it, and even Tamaki at Rank 9 could only buy time—with only the help of my familiars. This was the vow I’d made to Mia.
Ideally, the enemy would approach from their end. I glanced at the watch I’d gotten from Mia and saw that nearly thirty minutes had passed since the warp. In another half hour, the MP boost she’d given me would expire. If I missed this opportunity, I stood no chance of winning alone.
Even with Arisu, Tamaki, and Rushia helping, defeating Azagralith probably would have been impossible without the extra MP. I quickly applied support magic to my familiars: Keen Weapon, Physical Up, Mighty Arm, Clear Mind, Smart Operation, and Haste. This time, I decided not to use Isolation. It was a gamble; I assumed Azagralith, being a musclebrain, wouldn’t employ magic or mental attacks, so I was planning my tactics accordingly. From our previous encounter, I had a general understanding of his temperament: he was a battle maniac. He might even come alone, leaving his subordinates behind.
Only a creature like the Terrasaur Agnamu would be capable of following him into this battle. Such a reckless fighter wouldn’t bother to fight alongside his tentacled dinosaur-like subordinate.
And then, as expected:
“Master, something is approaching quickly,” reported Heavenly Turtle Nahan.
That’ll be Azagralith. I exchanged a nod with Sha-Lau, who had also experienced the previous battle.
“Any companions?”
“Seems to be alone.”
“I figured. Kanarg and Sha-Lau, take the front. Nahan, stay back a little and provide support as needed.”
Using Haste from the start had been the right decision. This battle was going to be over quickly. So, I decided to use another skill in my arsenal: Familiar Awakening.
As I activated the skill, all three familiars glowed with a dark red aura and let out ferocious roars, unable to contain their surging power.
I had dedicated the majority of my surplus MP to this, naturally. The cost to summon and maintain a Rank 9 familiar was 81. With Familiar Enhancement 4 and Familiar Maintenance Magic Power Reduction 1, it totaled 102. So, that was the base multiplier, but…
Earlier, during a Q&A, I’d inquired about the maximum multiplier for Familiar Awakening. Familiar Awakening was a skill that utilized extra MP to draw out a familiar’s inherent power. Hence, using it on a familiar like a paladin, already at its limit, would be pointless…
So, how far could Heavenly Turtle Nahan, Dragon King Kanarg, and Wolf King Sha-Lau go? The answer I received was, “With Familiar Enhancement 4 applied, I could stack Familiar Awakening up to three times.” However, this was near the limit, so the effect might not have been worth the MP it cost—I’d have to use three times the MP for that full effect.
After changing my questioning approach, I’d managed to find out that with Familiar Enhancement 5 applied, instead I’d spend two times the MP for Familiar Awakening. With Familiar Enhancement, familiars’ abilities roughly increase by half a rank each time. Thus, the limit for my three might be equivalent to Tamaki or Arisu using the same abilities at Rank 11.5. In other words, they were incredibly strong.
Yet, I understood that even in this immensely powerful state, they probably wouldn’t match Azagralith, whose combat strength was truly off the charts. Only in this extraordinarily enhanced state might we stand a slight chance against Azagralith.
I poured three times the 102 MP, a total of 306, into each of them. Taking into account the original maintenance cost, the MP consumed for the familiars was now 1224. My enormous initial MP of 1800 now dwindled to just under 500—but the familiars now possessed the strength to defeat Arisu and Tamaki instantly in one-to-one combat.
Will that be enough to defeat him? No, I have to believe it will be. Shaking off all the negative thoughts, I prepared myself mentally.
And then… he arrived.
Bursting through the underbrush, a gigantic black mass lunged at me. It soared like a bullet, heading straight for me…
“I won’t allow it!”
Kanarg intervened in its path, the slender dragon colliding with the dark shadow in an ear-splitting pop! Kanarg was sent spinning through the air. Even the mighty Dragon King seemed unable to stop the shadow.
But… it wasn’t over yet.
“Now it’s my turn!” shouted Sha-Lau, leaping at the black shadow from behind Kanarg. The Phantom Wolf King bit the monster’s shoulder, his fangs sinking deep into the flesh.
“Ugh… Argh!”
The charging shadow let out a groan. Most likely, it had been Kanarg who had significantly reduced the monster’s momentum. The black giant halted in its tracks, and I could see without a doubt that it was the pitch-black ogre, Azagralith.
His bare hands still poised for battle, the ogre demon general stared at me with a sinister grin.
“The whelp, huh? You’ve grown quite a bit since yesterday morning.”
“Don’t run away, Heavenly King. I’ve come for your head.”
“Interesting. Try me!” Azagralith gave a hearty laugh and grasped Sha-Lau’s head in his massive hands. As he tore the great wolf from his shoulder and hurled him aside, Sha-Lau’s teeth ripped through the giant’s flesh, blue blood flying.
Unfazed, the pitch-black ogre took a step forward… And then, a serpent of flame, unleashed by the Heavenly Turtle Nahan, struck him directly. The demon general was engulfed in fire.
“Did we get him?” Kanarg exclaimed.
Uh-oh, that’s a death flag…
Azagralith roared, his powerful voice sending shockwaves through the air. For a second, I just stood there frozen. The force of the roar sent Kanarg and Sha-Lau flying back.
Azagralith, his body still engulfed in flames, leaped forward, closing the distance in a direct line toward me. But I was ready for this.
“Transposition,” I yelled, switching places with Kanarg. The Dragon King, initially blown away, skillfully twisted his serpentine body to regain his stance and meet Azagralith’s fiery assault head-on. The two colossal beings met again as the impact shattering nearby trees and tearing up the earth. Dust and debris swirled, creating a barren landscape of exposed red soil more than ten meters wide.
“Sha-Lau!”
“Master!”
The wolf king and I moved as if with a single mind. He snatched me from the air and threw me toward Nahan, then made a U-turn and dashed back toward Azagralith.
At that moment, my consciousness had already detached from my body, merging with Sha-Lau’s. In the brief instant of contact with the Phantom Wolf King, I had activated Familiar Synchronization.
Now, Sha-Lau and I were united. My physical body would be caught by Nahan, allowing me to focus entirely on the battle alongside Sha-Lau.
My Familiar Synchronization level was at 3. This mode doubled the maintenance MP of a familiar, meaning that using it in a state of tripled familiar awakening would consume an additional 408 MP.
That was nearly all of my remaining MP, but…
I was ready to gamble it all, to bet everything on the combined strength of Sha-Lau and myself.
Azagralith’s towering form loomed before me.
With Familiar Synchronization 3, I gained the ability to not only merge with my familiar but also to cast my own magic through his body. And of course, the most potent spell for close combat was…
“Accel.”
Sha-Lau’s and my combined consciousness sped up. Azagralith turned to us, extending his left hand to grab us, but Sha-Lau twisted gracefully away, evading the demon general’s grip and diving into close range.
Sharp claws gouged Azagralith’s left eye, and Sha-Lau darted away before the monster could react.
As my consciousness returned to normal…
A deafening scream filled the air.
Turning back, I saw blue blood streaking down Azagralith’s face. The giant flailed wildly in pain. Dragon King Kanarg was blown away and crashed into a large tree, which snapped in half from the impact.
“You’ve done well, human!”
Clutching his crushed eye with his left hand, the demon general turned back to us. With a casual flick of his right hand, a massive axe—larger than Azagralith himself—materialized out of thin air.
“So, you’ve forced me to draw my weapon.”
Okay, now he’s serious…
The real battle was about to begin.