“I guess we actually gotta beat this thing, huh?” I said.
“Yep! I won’t let you skip the mid-boss! This isn’t a speedrun!”
“Says the one who gave us a harsh time limit...”
“That is one thing! This is another! Oh! And here’s a second helping of these guys!”
Following her words, the water rippled again, and dozens of APMs jumped onto the bridge again.
How many of these did that lab coat freak sell her?! “Ngh! Let’s deal with the mermen and take out Cthulhu!”
Chelsea was quick to respond. “Okay! The harpoons look poisoned, so since you can handle debuffs, you go to the front! Maxie and Julie, use Ipetam and your magic to reduce their numbers from a distance! Maxie, you and I will fight Cthulhu! Julie, back us up if you find an opening to hit him hard!”
“Roger that!” we all said in unison.
“Gheow!” called Ipetam. Chelsea had more experience in group battles than anyone else here, so we flew into action according to her strategy.
“GEH GEH GEH!” Despite the previous group of mermen being unceremoniously wiped out, the new ones didn’t seem to show any fear. They must’ve been made for combat, just like Franklin’s suicide series.
Holding debuff-imbued spears in their webbed hands, they charged at us.
“No way you’ll hit me!”
However, none of their attacks could land. The debuffs that halved and reduced my stats had all been reversed into buffs. My multiplied AGI let me read all their moves and slice the mermen apart with my Flag Halberd.
Even more of them then tried to attack me from a blind spot, but Ipetam provided cover, firing blades into their foreheads.
“Blackwing Requiem!”
As their movements started to slow, Juliet’s black light projectiles overwhelmed and devastated them.
“Let’s do this!” Max called out.
“All right! I’ll give us some footing! C’mon, Skyanchor!” Chelsea held up an Inventory and released an entire ship.
It was the vessel that used to be the Golden Pirates’ base, and a force to be reckoned with in Granvaloa’s duels.
The antiair sailing ship, Skyanchor, landed on the blue water.
“She’s coated, so she can handle the poison for a while!” said Chelsea. “But maintenance could be a pain, so let’s settle this quick!”
“Hell, if we waste too much time, tentacle-face here is gonna charge up and blast us along with the entire ship!”
“Can’t say I’d like that!”
Skyanchor began moving as soon as they landed.
Riding the current created by Poseidon, they approached Cthulhu.
“FIRE!” At Chelsea’s order, the armaments installed on the ship began bombarding the monster. She herself contributed with Gems, showering the still-regenerating Cthulhu with explosions.
“E e A a a A a A A H H H!” He released a voice of anguish, but his tough body was far from fatally wounded. As though to prove that point, he extended his arms—not to fire a beam this time, but to attack with his tentacles.
They wrapped around the ship, creating a scene that was straight out of a classic high seas fantasy story.
“Ugh, it’s been a while since somethin’ like this happened, but it’s still as gross as ever! Maxie!”
“On it!” Responding to Chelsea, Max grasped her katana and ran onto the deck. Her eyes were fixed on a tentacle that seemed far too thick for a blade like hers to slice through.
“Heh! This will be the perfect test.”
Despite all of that, Max’s face was in a confident grin.
She then activated the Swordmaster job’s Laser Blade skill and took a swing.
Cthulhu didn’t react to it whatsoever, focusing instead on attacking the ship.
That was understandable. Back at the arena, Max had charged at Overlord Invidia, but her blade had been deflected by these same tentacles—it hadn’t been effective whatsoever. It wasn’t clear just how intelligent Cthulhu was, but it would’ve been reasonable for him to assume there wasn’t anything to worry about.
However, the situation now was completely different than before.
This was proven when Max’s attack reached the tentacle several times her own size and sliced clean through it.
“E E A A H H?!” Cthulhu was shocked by this, but who could blame him? Max’s blade had dealt far more damage than its appearance alone would have suggested.
“Ha...! So it’s good even when shit gets real!”
In her hands, Max held one of Tenchi’s Hundred Famed blades—Sekiun.
Its skill was called Ungo-Musho—“Bladecloud Convergence”—and its effect was devastatingly simple.
It took the attack power of all the blades currently being used by the wielder and focused all of it into itself.
That was rather meaningless in most cases. Even if used while dual-wielding, it didn’t result in much of an increase due to Sekiun’s low base attack power, so it was more effective to just wield two katanas of equal power instead.
Jobs in the gladiator grouping could equip more weapons, and King of Asuras had the Asuran Battle-Mounts skill that added floating weapon slots, so they might’ve been able make better use of it.
But here stood an exception among exceptions—a duelist who used far more blades than King of Asuras and the Over Gladiator.
She was...
“I’ll turn ya into sashimi, ya damn octopus!”
“Gheow!”
...Great Genocide Max, the twenty-fourth in Altar’s duel rankings and the Master of Bladeswarm Beast, Ipetam.
Max was using a hundred blades, already released by Ipetam, and their metallic shine was now reflected by Sekiun.
Thus, just one of her swings was now a hundred times more powerful than they had been before.
And despite having just acquired it today, she was using it very effectively.
Max was sending Ipetam’s hundred blades at the APMs attacking me, and in between she was slicing at Cthulhu’s tentacles.