𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟑𝟕
Kwa-kwaang!━
“Don’t fall back!”
“Sweep them all away!”
Unlike me, who was attacking while wielding the Roar of the Thunder Dragon, the Anis Kingdom players were desperately attacking the Thoughts.
Skill names and explosion sounds could be heard from all over the place.
Most of them were probably F-rank skills, but due to their numbers being 3~4 times greater than the Thoughts, it wasn’t difficult to see the Thoughts occasionally collapsing.
It wasn’t something to ignore just because it was an F-rank skill.
‘This is possible because it still deals damage.’
This tactic of pushing through with overwhelming numbers seemed to be working better than expected.
Kwaang!━
[Hit Damage! 12,534.]
[Acquired 85,000 Combat Experience!]
Anyway, apart from those players, I had already eliminated three Thoughts, and amidst this noisy explosion, I could hear a shout that sounded somewhat urgent.
“Above!”
‘Above?’
I couldn’t hear it clearly.
But having vaguely heard “above,” I reflexively looked up and soon saw an Apostle preparing magic high in the sky.
The Apostle and the giant magic circle, floating at least 1km high.
I don’t know when he got up so high, but at that height, even if I took out the Magic Bullet Bomber, it wouldn’t be within range.
‘Uh…… is this dangerous?’
At least the players in the back seemed to have noticed.
On the other hand, the players in the front, who were engaged in a frantic battle with the Thoughts, seemed to have no time to look up and were just spamming skills. Meanwhile, the Apostle completed his magic.
Kwaang!━
A giant thunderbolt, erupting explosively from the golden magic circle created by the Apostle, reached us in an instant.
Kwa-kwa-kwaang!!━
“Kyaak!”
“Wh-what!?”
“Above! It’s firing magic from above!”
“Damn it, someone go and stop it!”
Instead, thanks to that attack, everyone was able to spot the Apostle floating in the air.
But spotting him and being able to attack him were two different things.
Still, since there were a considerable number of people gathered here, many used flight skills to fly towards the Apostle, but the Apostle, as if mocking them, simply showered them with Lightning Arrows and made them fall back down.
‘Aerial approach is out of the question.’
He unleashed over 100 Lightning Arrows in an instant.
Moreover, the Lightning Arrows weren’t slow either.
The Lightning Arrows I briefly saw flew at a speed that would require me to focus entirely on dodging, so I concluded that aerial combat was impossible.
‘And we’re gradually being pushed back.’
The magic cast from the sky disrupted the front line.
However, the Thoughts continued to push forward with the same momentum as before, so the front line was naturally being pushed back.
“It’s coming again!”
“Crazy, how can the magic range be that long!?”
“Stop talking nonsense and use your shields!”
Even if they used shields, they would quickly break under the Thoughts’ attacks.
A more concrete plan was needed.
Meanwhile, I thought of one of my summons, the Griffin.
‘Should I approach with the Griffin?’
First, if I changed my title to Soul Contract and used it, all the stats of my summons would increase by 30%, and with the Rare Set effect and the B-rank Riding Unity, it could move much faster than the players currently falling like flies.
Kwa-kwa-kwaang!!━
‘Tsk.’
It can’t be helped.
Seeing the giant thunderbolt fall once again, sweeping away dozens of players, I decided to try and do something about that Apostle first.
“Title Change. Summon.”
[Summoning Griffin.]
There wasn’t even time to hesitate.
As soon as the Griffin was summoned, I got on and thought about going up, and with the effect of Riding Unity, the Griffin flapped its wings and soared upwards even without me giving it a command.
‘I have to go as fast as possible.’
But I had faith.
Thanks to the title, the summon stat boost, and the power of the items, the Griffin’s Agility had increased to well over 1,000.
Moreover, the B-rank skill Riding Unity applied a portion of my stats to the Griffin.
Shwiiing!━
Thus, the Griffin flew towards the Apostle at a speed that even surprised me for a moment, and as expected, the Apostle, upon spotting me flying towards him, created and unleashed Lightning Arrows.
‘To the side.’
Pat!━
Thinking it would be difficult to break through head-on, I swerved to the right and was able to avoid most of the Lightning Arrows, but instead, the distance between me and the Apostle widened.
Moreover, seeing the Apostle creating Lightning Arrows again, I thought this wouldn’t do and decided to ascend as high as possible.
‘He’s fast.’
As I evaded to the side and gradually flew upwards, I could soon see the Apostle far away.
I had widened the distance almost instantly.
In addition, I could see him watching me, perhaps finding my presence bothersome, without even attacking the players on the ground, but fortunately, he didn’t chase after me.
Presumably, he couldn’t move faster than the Griffin.
‘If that’s the case……’
Thinking that this might be my chance, I flew even higher than the Apostle and quickly changed direction to check his location.
The Apostle looked like a small toy doll due to how high I had flown, and the players below him looked like slightly larger dots.
‘Here I go.’
Of course, there was no time to admire the view. After confirming the Apostle’s location, I descended towards him at full speed.
Swoosh!━
“Ugh.”
The descent speed, perhaps receiving an additional boost, was much faster than when I was dodging the Lightning Arrows at full speed earlier.
However, it wasn’t fast enough to reach him instantly.
Seeing the Apostle showering me with Lightning Arrows, I thought this speed wasn’t enough and activated the skill within Riding Unity.
“Frontal Charge!”
A riding-exclusive skill that increases attack power and movement speed.
Activating the skill here, I was once again reminded that this was a game. In reality, the wind pressure would be so strong that it would be difficult to even open my eyes, but here, I hardly felt it.
To be precise, only around my eyes and mouth.
As soon as I thought it was probably related to the skill, I endured several incoming Lightning Arrows, and at that moment, I knew I had reached the Apostle.
‘I have to catch him.’
I had a brief moment of distraction, but I didn’t descend from this height just to figure that out.
If I missed the Apostle here, I didn’t know what would happen next, so I desperately tried to grab the Apostle with the Griffin’s front claws, and the Griffin swung its raptor-like claws, catching the Apostle’s shoulder as he tried to escape.
━Damn it, with a mere beast like this!
The Apostle seemed to be trying to cast some kind of magic to break free, but unfortunately, the speed at which we were plummeting towards the ground was faster.
Kwa-kwa-kwaang!!━
Extending the Griffin’s claws that had caught the Apostle, I made him crash into the ground first, then quickly pulled the Griffin back and jumped off, immediately attacking the Apostle who hadn’t regained his senses yet.
If he remained unconscious for even a minute, I could kill him.
“Jayer’s Guardian Shield, Thunder Strike!”
Kwaang!━
[Skill Damage! 23,868.]
If the Apostle fell here, it would undoubtedly be advantageous for the Anis players, but it would also serve as definite proof that I had helped.
Even if the strategy failed, I had caught an Apostle, so they wouldn’t be able to say anything.
━Damn you, Thunderstorm!
Had he already regained his senses?
While still in a sprawled position like a flipped-over frog, the Apostle, having been hit by Thunder Strike several times, immediately unleashed lightning around him, attacking in all directions.
Crackle!━
‘Large-scale area skill?’
The lightning that initially appeared only around the Apostle soon began to swirl violently, rapidly expanding in size and attacking everything around it.
[You have taken damage! 3,851.]
[You have taken damage……]
“Thunder Strike!”
Frankly, the continuous damage wasn’t at a level that ordinary players could withstand.
Even if they had as much defense as me, how could they endure nearly 4,000 damage per second?
In comparison, I could recover using the Guardian Shield, the Legendary ring, and finally, Thunder Strike.
In other words, I could somehow endure it.
Kwa-kwaang!!━
“Ugh, I, I……”
And as if to prove my judgment correct, I continued to strike the Apostle while he was using Thunderstorm, and soon, I saw the message that he had fallen.
[Boss Monster ‘Beluin’s 23rd Apostle’ has fallen!]
[Combat Experience……]
‘If it were me, I would have run away.’
Or used Divine Power.
If he had used Divine Power, I would have had no choice but to retreat, but this Apostle seemed to have too much faith in his magic.
‘Come to think of it, how did the Anis Kingdom reach the final boss?’
There were probably five Apostles in each country.
One of them was guarding the passage, so there were effectively four Apostles in the Main Scenario area. If they had progressed through the scenario normally, they would have inevitably encountered a few.
But they were all alive except for the Apostle guarding the passage.
‘Did they challenge it immediately after finding a single secret passage?’
At this point, I wondered if the secret passage was a trap.
‘Anyway, things worked out well, and I managed to catch one……’
I didn’t know what the remaining enemies would be like.
Ideally, I wanted to fight moderately and slip away faster than anyone else when it was time to retreat, but while I was dealing with the Apostle, the players were quickly taking care of the Thoughts.
‘But the remaining Apostles wouldn’t just stand by and watch……’
Kwa-kwa-kwaang!!━
Even though the number of Thoughts increased over time, their overall strength was being chipped away.
So, would they just stand by and watch? As I thought this, I turned my head at the sudden loud explosion and soon saw two Apostles rampaging through the players.
“……”
Just as I thought.
If all the Thoughts were eliminated, they would be subjected to the concentrated attacks of tens of thousands of players, so they wouldn’t just stand still.
They had to attack alongside the Thoughts like they were doing now.
Anyway, watching them, I could see that the Apostles were the 11th and 17th.
‘Are they both warrior types?’
I thought it would have been nice if they were mages like the one I just defeated, and as I observed them, one was wielding two two-handed axes, one in each hand, sweeping through like a storm, and the other was using a total of five swords.
At a glance, neither of them seemed ordinary.
However, the one wielding two two-handed axes seemed to be focused on Strength, and the one wielding a one-handed sword and controlling four other swords around him seemed to be focused on skill.
Moreover, watching him closely, the way he controlled the swords felt very similar to the Demon Sword Summon skill I used in my demon form.
‘……Still, with these numbers, wouldn’t they be able to catch them?’
If they could just deal damage, the players, with their superior numbers, should have the advantage.
They should have the advantage, but watching the players struggling to get away from the Apostles, it didn’t seem like they had the upper hand at all.
‘Ah, right.’
Originally, there were four Apostles here.
I had just killed one, and two were rampaging on the players’ side, so……
‘There should be one left.’
Thinking that, I looked around and saw the fifth Apostle along with Beluin’s Specter in the distance.
A black smoke vaguely taking the shape of a human.
Knowing that it was the Specter, I saw it and the Apostle next to it, but neither of them seemed to have any intention of moving.
‘Should I go over there and fight?’
I didn’t particularly want to be greedy, but seeing them just standing there like that made me think it was an opportunity.
At that moment.
Pat━
The fifth Apostle, whom I had been watching, disappeared and then reappeared in front of me.
“……!?”
━Are you the one who defeated the first Apostle?
The fifth Apostle, who appeared before me without any warning or sign, suddenly threw that question at me.
━Lord Beluin told me. He said the one who defeated the first Apostle and restored the seal is here.
“Ah, is that so?”
I was curious how he knew, but it seemed Beluin had told him.
Apart from that, it was fascinating that he knew about what happened in the Harpe Empire even here, but if all of Beluin’s Specters were connected, it wasn’t that strange.
‘Damn, this feels like a fight is about to break out.’
The situation wasn’t good.
My ideal scenario was for the players to defeat the two Apostles who were currently massacring them, and then for everyone to join forces to take down the fifth Apostle.
But that damn Beluin had to spout unnecessary words, making me skip all the intermediate steps and face the fifth Apostle directly.
━Let’s see your skills then.
While I prepared for battle, just in case, the fifth Apostle slowly raised his hand.
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