The swarming blades and the focusing blade—Max could turn the Bladecloud Convergence skill on and off just by thinking it, and so she switched attack power between the hundred and the one as she both repelled the APMs around me and fought Cthulhu on the ship.
Max was a powerful Master who’d once made it to the top of Tenchi’s infamously stacked duel rankings. She was far stronger than her current position suggested.
“E e A h h...! E a h e A H e A h...!” Cthulhu was tough enough to deflect Chelsea’s and Max’s attacks, possessed regeneration so powerful you could see it happening in real time, and even had a skill that let him turn debuffs into a devastating offensive weapon. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was actually a match for Legendary UBMs.
However, he could still take damage that surpassed his toughness, and Chelsea and Max were overwhelming him to the point that his regeneration couldn’t keep up.
Cthulhu swung his tentacles in rage, but Max sliced them off so they couldn’t do any damage, and Chelsea detonated so many Gems around him at once that he lost his footing.
I’d once said that not even Superiors could create perfectly invincible monsters, and that was true here, as well. Chelsea could use her optimal combat style here, while Max had just obtained an incredible new power—and together, they were overwhelming Cthulhu.
“E e E a a A h h h H H H!”
And yet, he still moved.
Was it because of the Overlord’s orders? Or was it the pride of a creature bearing the name of the Great Old One? Regardless, Cthulhu pointed a finger at Skyanchor, fully intent on destroying all of his enemies.
But then, there was a break in the flowing horde of mermen, letting Juliet and I leap into action.
I hopped on Silver, Juliet flapped her wings, and the both of us flew forward, keeping low to avoid the air mines.
“Juliet! You get Max!”
“Ah...! Okay!” Juliet understood what I was planning and sped toward the ship.
I, on the other hand, stopped right between the ship and Cthulhu.
“You realize this is a gamble, don’t you?!” said Nemesis.
“The usual, then!”
“Well, I suppose...! Form shift—Black Shield!”
Right as the menacing light on the monster’s extended finger grew stronger, Nemesis switched from the Flag Halberd to her shield form.
With Reversal gone, I was now afflicted with a bunch of debuffs—but I held on to Silver and tried to bear it.
And then...
“E e E a a A a A A A A A A A A H H H H H H!”
“Counter Absorption!”
...a blue-purple light crashed into my barrier of light.
“Ngh...!” The beam attack was so concentrated it caused physical destruction.
Weathering the seven debuffs, I gave my all to hold on to Nemesis and the reins.
The beam felt like it was never-ending. The barrier of light cracked, on the verge of shattering, and a blue-purple aura was leaking through, touching the surface of the Black Shield. My defense would be broken in just a few more seconds.
“...We win.”
However, I knew what would happen next.
I saw Max, holding on to Juliet’s hand as she flew toward Cthulhu.
“Hyakujin Itto!” With that shout, meaning “Hundred Blades in One,” Max swung the single blade empowered by hundred and split Cthulhu in half at the torso.
“E a h...?!” With a pained sound, the monster’s top half fell into the blue water.
Cthulhu still tried to move for a moment, but eventually he disappeared, flickering out of existence as though flowing back into something that lay elsewhere.
“It’s over.” Switching to the Flag Halberd, I let out a sigh.
Cthulhu was probably set to return to a Jewel when he took too much damage. It looked like not even G wanted to lose a monster that she had used an MVP reward on.
Regardless, the threat blocking our path was now gone.
We also had less than half an hour left. We had to hurry and...
“Huh?! They...!”
“GEH GEH GEH!”
We’d beaten the mid-boss here. However, these mobs—the APMs—were still swarming the bridge.
“They’re still coming?! Just how many of them are there?!”
“Franklin said he wanted a bunch of metal from my mines, so I got a very good deal on these,” said G. “There’s a whole lot more.”
Metal, huh? He’ll probably use that for monsters or Magingears, I thought. But man, my sworn enemy and current enemy really struck a win-win deal, huh...
“I fear that whatever he makes will be used against us,” said Nemesis. She was probably right, but we had to focus on what was in front of us.
We could just rush forward, but getting stabbed in the back would be pretty bad too.
“All right! Maxie and I will hold them off! You two go on ahead!”
As I thought about what we had to do next, Chelsea raised her voice.
“I’m doin’ this too...?! Well, fine!”
“Chelsea...?”
“G’s probably after Ray. She’d probably do somethin’ funny again if he doesn’t go. Also... You wanna face her yourself, doncha, Julie?”
“Yeah!” Juliet said with a nod.
“Then that’s how we’re gonna split! We’ll catch up once we’re done here, so leave this to us and go!”
“Hey! Stop settin’ death flags for us...!” said Max as she cut down some mermen and pointed Sekiun at the passage. “Hurry up and go!”
“...Thanks,” I said. “We’ll leave this to you!”
“We’re off...!”
Thus, Juliet and I turned our backs to them and advanced deeper into the Depths of Jealousy, where the Overlord was waiting for us.