Chapter 5: Return of the Deadly King

A few days later...

“Bring it on, bawk!”

Bweee! Bwee!

Once again, Golden Bunnies flocked to Kokoru and started striking him with front kicks.

“Haaah!”

“As brainless as ever!”

Akira and Akabane appeared out of nowhere to cut them down. At the same time, Yano fired her gun.

Maeda and Akabane’s NPC, Selphie, were the ones herding the Golden Bunnies back toward Kokoru.

We worked our butts off with this strategy to grind up more levels.

“Nice, nice. This is going great!”

In the meantime, I was hard at work crafting. By making products for our guild shop, I could also raise my crafting level at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

I had to get good enough to make gear for everyone to use during the final battle. Otherwise, our gear would be long-outdated by then.

I was stuck watching them farm either way, so I figured I might as well use this time productively!

Typically, one couldn’t craft while in battle, but I kept enough distance from where the battles were taking place that the game determined that I was out of combat.

Being too far away meant that I wouldn’t gain experience points, so I was standing between those two ranges while crafting away, successfully gaining experience points and crafting skill at the same time.

My talent, Efficiency, would allow me to craft while in battle, but it meant that I wouldn’t gain crafting skill. In this situation, it was outright pointless.

Managing this sweet spot would’ve normally been a real challenge, but Kokoru’s aptitude for being Golden Bunny bait was a huge help once again. If they were corralled in his direction, they would always attack him. Thanks to that, I didn’t have to move a single step.

At this rate, Akira would be able to power up Skyfall soon, too.

“Okay. Next, I’ll start crafting a nice stock of damascus ingots!”

These were the even higher-quality versions of the steel ingots I’d used before. I already had the ore required to make the ingots.

Kokoru can work with this, too, which is great.

We’d be able to outfit everyone in damascus gear. Naturally, the weapon inside my Canesword would also become a damascus sword. The price of a single Dead End was going up and up!

As I continued to chug away at crafting, the level-up chime reached my ears.

Ooh, my level went up!

Incredibly, I was already level 71.

“Bawk! I went up again!”

“That’s awesome! You’re level one hundred now!”

From afar, I could hear Akira and Kokoru cheering.

Nice, nice. His level’s probably high enough by now.

“Hey, Ren! They’re all dead. Let’s get going!”

“Gotcha!”

Thus, we withdrew from the Sky Fissure and returned to the deck of the Peachy Thunder.

“Phew. Will that be it for the day?” Akabane asked.

It was almost 10 PM—time for the forced logout.

“Well, not just for the day. I think we’re done grinding levels in Sky Fissures, period. We’re already pretty up there,” I replied.

We’d crossed “get Kokoru to level 100” off our list, so now our group had to shift gears.

“We’re stopping? Does that mean all that’s left is our equipment?” Akira said.

“Pretty much. If we do nothing but level up, we won’t be able to get Kokoru’s skill charged.”

Kokoru was essentially going to be a general in the battle royale, and a general needed troops! We had to give him strong subjects to summon with Golden Sweets, and for that, we couldn’t just go around killing Golden Bunnies.

Sky Fissure enemies were typically random, so they wouldn’t always generate the enemies you wanted. If he could only summon Golden Bunnies, he wouldn’t be of much help.

Basically, we needed to go to a normal area so we could find something guaranteed to set him up. All the farming spots were taken, yes, but I had the perfect idea to break through the farming blockade.

“How about we tell other guilds how to start Golden Bunny Festivals?”

In other words, we’d fill them in on the whole timestamp gimmick. This was the key to turning the monsters in the fissure into Golden Bunnies.

“Whaaat?!”

Everyone was shocked.

That’s fair, though. It would mean leaking the info we’d figured out on our own.

“But we worked so hard for that!” Yano protested.

“Wouldn’t it be a waste?” Maeda asked.

Akira nodded. “Yeah! We used all our MEP to minmax the ship, and you even picked a boring skill for Draco.”

“It’s cool. We got what we needed out of it. Someone else is gonna figure it out eventually, and what happens if the method changes? Then our info’s useless. Might as well squeeze one last use out of it. This time, it’ll clear out the normal farming spots for us.”

“Then... if we tell other guilds about this, they’ll all flock to the Sky Fissures?”

I nodded in response to Akira. “Yep. Then their vise grips on farming spots should ease up, yeah? Even if you compare our leveling pace to the other guilds’, the Golden Bunnies are clearly the best. Everybody will leap at this opportunity, hoping to level up as much as possible. If we tell Homura, and she latches on to it, others should follow. Her guild’s pretty big, after all.”

The battle royale was close at hand.

Even if the interference with grind spots loosened, and weaker guilds started rapidly leveling up, it would be beyond difficult for them to recover the difference. Therefore, it wouldn’t really be a problem for us if they did.

Once this info got around, the gears ought to start turning all at once. While everyone else was off hunting Golden Bunnies, we would swoop into the empty grind spots and get Kokoru ready for battle.

“Wow, I get it. You sure are sneaky, Ren!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I turned to Akabane. “Are you cool with that?”

“I do not mind. But I would like to see what you’ll do with these empty spots.”

“No prob. Actually, it’d be great if you could help us out.”

With that, our Golden Bunny Festival finally came to a close.

If we could get Homura’s help with spreading this info around, the big-name guilds would all gather around Sky Fissures almost immediately... just as I intended!

◆◇◆

We were just two days out from the battle.

By now, most of our gear was updated, so we were taking up the endeavor of preparing Kokoru’s skill. We had gotten his level about as high as it would get, so we just had to recruit allies close to the level limit. Again, Golden Sweets worked based on level.

To that end, we’d made our way to Almishr’s Burial Ground.

Everything had gone according to plan, and the grind-obstruction had been loosened. The inside of the tomb was essentially back to normal.

We killed off monsters on our way down, just like before. We’d made it to the bottom floor at a low level last time, so our descent was smooth this time around.

By the way, the level breakdown was as follows: me at level 71, Akira at 72, Maeda 72, and Yano at level 73. Kokoru was a dignified level 100!

Tagging along were Akabane at level 74 and her NPC Selphie at level 81.

My equipment had been updated, too. Stats included, my setup looked like this:

PAGE 1/3

[Character Status]

Class: Symbologist

Level: 71

HP: 2,442/2,442

MP: 771/771

AP: 0/300

STR: 111

VIT: 452

DEX: 144

AGI: 202

INT: 301

MND: 255

CHR: 210

Talent 1: Knifer

<Effect> User can equip hidden weapons.

Talent 2: Skill Chain

<Effect> User can unleash ultimate moves that combine up to three skills/arts.

Talent 3: Final Strike

<Effect> User can use Final Strike.

Talent 4: Efficiency

<Effect> User skips the crafting animation, but is unable to craft flawless items.

Talent 5: Skill Chain

<Effect> User can unleash ultimate moves that combine up to three skills/arts.

LUB: 0

MEP: 0

Money: 334 Mira

[Equipment]

Main Weapon: Canesword (OEX)

Subweapon: None

Ranged Weapon: Blowgun (OEX)

Ammunition: Sleep Darts

Head: Damascus Circlet

Body: Damascus Robes

Arms: Damascus Gloves

Legs: Damascus Trousers

Feet: Damascus Shoes

Acc 1: Equip Ring

Acc 2: Rush Ring

I was still throwing all of my level-up bonuses into VIT. Even I was starting to think it was a little silly at this point, but giving up now would be admitting defeat.

Gotta keep on minmaxing to the very end! I go my own way!

My talents were the usual drama-cannon setup, but I had set two Skill Chains.

Along the way here, I’d had Joint Magic equipped. We weren’t going to be using it anymore, though, so I’d moved things around in favor of two ultimates.

I was once again impoverished, so I made a mental note to procure some cash. That was thanks to the painful cost of preparing all of this new gear. I’d crafted all of it myself, so it was much cheaper than buying it outright, at least.

I hadn’t just worked on my own gear; I’d done some stuff for Akira and the others as well. We had souped up her Skyfall twice, making it a Skyfall +3.

With the higher-grade materials available to me, I improved my Canesword to be a damascus sword wrapped up in a damascus cane. When I wanted an emphasis on guard, I would switch to my Fanatic’s Staff.

The damascus cane was starting to catch up in usefulness, but that high guard was still putting in work. However, damascus ingots were far from cheap.

Suddenly, the unit cost of a single ultimate was exploding upward! I could see why my forefathers had given up on the symbologist drama cannon.

Draco was occasionally bringing materials with his Pickup ability, but he just couldn’t keep up. I hadn’t gotten another Peregrine Stone since the last time.

Sure would be nice to find a damascus mine somewhere. Once this guild mission is over, maybe I’ll go on a trip to find some materials.

PAGE 2/3

[Magic]

Enfeebling Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

Devitalizing Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

Clumsifying Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

Enervating Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

Stupefying Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

Debrain Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

Repugnant Circle (MP: 5~∞)

Cooldown: 0/10 seconds

[Skills]

Turnover

Cooldown: 0/300 seconds

<Effect> Swaps current HP and MP.

Symbologist only

Final Strike

Cooldown: 0/300 seconds

<Effect> Greatly increases damage of next attack, but breaks weapon afterward.

[Arts]

Charge Spells (AP: 100)

Staff Art

<Effect> Recovers 20% of max MP

Stinging Shot (AP: 50)

Staff Art

<Effect> Smacks a faraway enemy by using magic to manipulate one’s staff. Hits once.

Windmill (AP: 50)

Staff Art

<Effect> User swings equipped staff in a wide arc and leaps upward. Hits once.

Roundhouse Staff (AP: 100)

Staff Art

<Effect> User swings equipped staff in a circle, protecting self. Hits a random amount of times.

Explosive Tackle (AP: 75; HP: 10% of max)

Martial Artist Art (Strikes)

<Effect> A high-speed tackle that envelops the user in flames. Hits an area in front of the user.

Falling Leaf (AP: 100)

Martial Artist Art (Strikes)

<Effect> User leaps high into the air, then propels downward at a targeted enemy. Hits once.

Tortoise Guard (AP: 125)

Martial Artist Art (Strikes)

<Effect> Renders user immobile, but greatly reduces physical damage sustained.

Effect duration: 30 seconds.

Quickdraw (AP: 0)

Hidden Weapon Art

<Effect> Lightning-fast strike that takes enemies by surprise. Hits once. Only usable once per battle. Grows stronger as HP decreases. Ignores defense. Cannot be evaded.

Shadow Dart (AP: 0)

Hidden Weapon Art

<Effect> Fires a single dart from the enemy’s blind spot. Hits once. Only usable once per battle. Grows stronger as HP decreases. Extra effect rate and potency increase as HP decreases. Ignores defense. Cannot be evaded.

I had added several arts thanks to my Rush Ring, along with the large level boost.

Actually, there was a lot of magic I could learn at my current level, but I couldn’t afford any of it. Without the magic, there wouldn’t be much point in being a Symbologist, so I figured I’d better get that going soon.

PAGE 3/3

[Ultimates]

Dead End (Turnover -> Final Strike -> Quickdraw)

Descending Azure Dragon (Turnover -> Falling Leaf -> Quickdraw)

With these new arts, of course, I had much more variety when it came to ultimates. This was going to be very useful against our next opponent!

I took notice of a monster enshrined in front of the treasure room at the lowest level of the dungeon. Golden armor with gaudy ornamentation, a firm build, and a red glint in his eyes. His huge, obsidian, two-handed sword was just as ominous as ever.

Yep. He’s still one cool dude.

Level 99 Deadly King

Crown Icon (rare monster)

There he is!

He was the whole reason we had come here. The Deadly King was the ideal servant for our level 100 Kokoru!

Now, time for a revenge match!

Kokoru gasped upon seeing the Deadly King. “W-We’re gonna recruit him, bawk? Err, I guess he does look strong.”

Golden Sweets could only recruit allies equal to or lower than the user’s level, so he was perfect for it as he was so close to our current limit.

Fortunately for us, the skill even worked on rare monsters. However, they would be pretty heavily nerfed when you summoned them. If they were unleashed at full strength, they would’ve been ridiculously overpowered.

It was pretty much an unspoken rule that when bosses joined you, they’d be weakened. Too bad.

In some robot-based video games, you recruit enemies with tens of thousands of HP... and they’d end up with less than half that.

Even if rare monsters were weakened, they still ended up a lot stronger than normal mobs of the same level, so this would be just fine.

If this big guy joined us, Kokoru’s fighting power would skyrocket. Now, the only question was whether we could bring him to our side.

Golden Sweets occasionally worked in one go, and therefore only one waste of money-disguised-as-sweets. But just as often, the enemy would refuse and start attacking. Sometimes, they would demand more before they would be swayed.

That made them basically mercs for him to hire. Not that they were gonna help him save 80,000 gold coins for retirement or something.

“Here we go, Kokoru. If he attacks, just run away immediately.”

“Yes, sir, bawk!”

Leaving the girls behind, I held Draco in my arms and approached the king with Kokoru. I was here to cast Enervating Circle right away in the case that Kokoru was attacked. The circle came with a slowdown effect, so we could escape safely if we needed to.

If we were attacked, fighting here would be disadvantageous, as there were monsters buried within all in the walls that aggroed based on your health. Any loss in HP would cause the monsters to attack all at once, killing us with sheer numbers.

Thus, if we needed to fight, we had to try to drag the Deadly King above ground. Last time, we’d lost even after we dragged him up. But what would happen this time?

Anyway, I was with Kokoru just in case we needed to start an impromptu marathon.

“Ren, how much should I give him?” Kokoru was able to choose how much he gave in his bribes.

“Might as well give him all you’ve got. We definitely want him on our side.”

Kokoru was holding 500,000 Mila. Spending that much just to summon him once was pretty darn expensive, like a foreign pinch-hitter who charged 500,000 yen for a single swing.

The contract would expire after his first summoning, so if we wanted to do it again, we had to come back and bribe him once more. It took a lot to entice top-performing players!

Normally, it was probably meant to be used to grab enemies in a heavily populated area and use them as on-the-spot escorts. That was very much the way a powerless merchant would survive. With enough time and money, it could also be used in pursuit of instant, full-on firepower.

No problem, though! Dead End V cost me a whole two million Mila to use, so this was nothing.

Splurging on personnel expenses to get an edge was a thing not just in baseball, but in MMOs as well.

Was there a problem inherent in that? I would say nay.

“Ah! Here he comes, Kokoru!”

The Deadly King started moving the moment he noticed our presence.

“Yeah. I’ll do it now, bawk!”

Kokoru activated Golden Sweets.

When he did, a wooden gift box fell before the Deadly King, accompanied by a sparkly effect.

The Deadly King instantly stopped and looked at it, opening the lid of the box to find, bizarrely, a golden coin inside!

It was like watching a period play.

That’s Golden Sweets for you!

It was a surreal sight to see purely Japanese-style effects in a game with this aesthetic.

For some reason, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Want it? Then lend me your strength, bawk!” Kokoru shouted.

The king grabbed the box and tucked it into his armor. Basically, he had accepted the bribe.

“VERY WELL. BUT I WON’T LEND MY STRENGTH TO THE WEAK. SHOW THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DEFEAT ME!”

With that, he held his sword aloft and charged straight at us.

“He’s attacking, baaawk!”

“Mngh?! How dare he! We’ve gotta take him down, or else all that money just went down the drain!”

When we last fought him, he had seemed like one of those guys obsessed with battling, so it wasn’t altogether unexpected that he would demand a fight first. Think of him as an Esper in one of those big-name fantasy RPGs.

What the heck, man? Don’t just take the money, too! If you’re a battle maniac, don’t take the money. If you want money, don’t start a fight. It’s that easy! You can’t have both!

“Enervating Circle!”

I quickly activated my circle, targeting the dragon in my arms.

With the effects of the skill Target Marker, my normally immobile circles could be cast on him and thus move wherever he went.

While I held Draco in my arms, this meant we could bring the movement-slowing effect along with us. As such, no matter how long the enemy chased us, they wouldn’t catch up. The moment they stepped into the circle, they would be slowed down. As long as they didn’t attack from a distance, we could indefinitely run a marathon without getting caught.

“Kokoru, don’t leave my side! We gotta drag him above ground first, so come with me!”

“Wait for me, bawk!”

Kokoru and I started sprinting for the surface.

Enveloped in the Enervating Circle and its enemy-slowing effects, we ran all the way up the path from the very bottom to the very top.

Along the way up, normal mobs like Deadly Generals and Ancient Dolls saw us and tried to attack, but the slowdown was too much for them, allowing us to evade them with ease and continue on our way. Once we passed by, they would never catch up, as long as I left the circle up.

Better yet, I had a much higher level and much more MP than the last time. Even without using Turnover to refill my MP, I had more than enough to make it to the surface. If I did run out of MP and use Turnover, the HP/MP swap would bring my HP way down.

At that point, all the Crimson Mummies buried in the walls of the tomb would wake up. Health-based aggro is one way that monsters decide when and who to attack. In this case, they went for players whose HP was under a specific percentage.

In Almishr’s Burial Ground, the big tourist attraction is the mob of mummies that will come and kill you if you don’t watch your HP carefully.

“Enervating Circle!”

Before the effect ran out, I overwrote the circle. It meant stopping for a second, but no enemy weapons reached me. I started running again, recreating that set distance between us.

“This is going well, bawk!”

If we kept going like this, I wouldn’t be leading that huge train of Crimson Mummies from last time. However, I started to wonder if this was the right choice.

It’s not like they’ll kill me if I start the train. Last time, I survived just fine.

“You can do it, boys!”

“If you die now, that’s five hundred thousand down the drain!”

“You're halfway there. Keep it up!”

“I see. That’s quite a convenient way to use circle magic, even if it requires a pet dragon.”

Akira and the others followed from a bit behind the Deadly King.

The enemy was focused on Kokoru and me, so the rest of them were pretty much just on a field trip—like cheerleaders at a sports game.

It’d be kinda fun to scare the heck out of them.

Last time around, they had gone to plunder the treasure room while I distracted the enemy, so they hadn’t seen what I’d seen.

I think they deserve to witness that ridiculous train of enemies!

It was worth seeing. Worth screenshotting, even!

“Enervating Circle!”

I developed my circle with a pretty large radius. A pointlessly large circle like this was, in essence, a waste of MP. My MP was down to 11 now.

“This circle’s really big, bawk.”

Poor Kokoru knew nothing of what was to come.

Okay. Time for the show!

“Turnover!”

It was a success. Now, my HP was 11 and my MP was at max.

Groooooan...

Level 78 Crimson Mummy Army

There it is!

Hands reached out of the wall like a haunted house—the greeting of an army of red mummies!

“Bawk?! Bagaaawk!” Kokoru screamed like he was watching the end of the world.

“Eeeeek!” The group of pretty girls behind us did the same.

I was the one who was taking the health-based aggro, so as long as I didn’t fall, they were completely safe—though they were getting jostled around by the mob of Crimson Mummies.

“Don’t stop running, Kokoru! As long as we escape, everyone’s gonna be okay!”

“I’d run without you telling me to, bawk! This is just crazy!”

“Ren, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?! You totally had enough MP!”

“Isn’t the view great, though?! You don’t get to see trains like this every day. Figured I might as well let you all see it, too.”

It was still an incredible sight. I had to laugh. This was one of the things you just had to see in this game.

“Bwahaha! It’s just as crazy as the last time! Ahahaha!”

“Geez, Ren! Okay, yeah, it is kinda crazy! I’ve gotta take some screenshots of this.”

Yep, thought as much. She ended up enjoying herself. That’s our sightseeing maniac for you!

“B-But what are we gonna we do about this?!”

“W-We can’t possibly beat this many, can we?”

“No worries! Once we make it out, only the Deadly King will follow us. Already tested!”

Even I wouldn’t do something this silly if we couldn’t escape. Just a bit of messing around because I knew I could get away with it.

The true battle would begin on the surface. Last time, we had suffered a complete defeat at the hands of the Deadly King.

“Bawk! I see the exit!”

“Nice! Let’s get going!”

We leapt out of the tomb and up to the surface.

Once we made it out, all the enemies except for the Deadly King seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall, remaining stuck within the tomb. Same phenomenon as last time.

Having escaped the mob, Akabane turned and gasped. “You were right. They stopped!”

Only the shiny-armored Deadly King had run outside with us.

“Here we are! At last, the true battle begins!” I joked.

However, Akira poured even more drama onto my declaration. “Yeah! We’ve come this far; now it’s time to put an end to it!”

“Kokoru, move to a safe distance!”

“Yes, sir, bawk!”

The Deadly King’s targeting was on Kokoru now because he was the one who had used Golden Sweets. It wasn’t a major amount of aggro, so first, I was gonna pull the aggro away from him.

“Sword Samba!”

In perfect harmony, Akira activated her Sword Samba on me.

This made Turnover available for use again—and my ultimate as well.

“Enfeebling Circle!”

This magic reduced enemy strength. I cast it at a wide range, reducing my MP to zero immediately. By weakening him, I would sustain less damage from his attacks.

Then, I got in position and unsheathed my Canesword.

“Ultimate move: Dead End!”

Smaaaash!

A flash of bright, purple light!

Ren activated Dead End.

Dealt 4,279 damage to Deadly King!

Nice. My damage is rising!

My stat boosts on level-up and my weapon upgrades were keeping pace, too.

I had another ultimate at my disposal, but without AP on hand, I couldn’t use it. Dead End’s 0 AP cost was incredibly convenient. Not only was it the most basic piece in the drama cannon loadout, but I was kinda attached to Dead End. I didn’t think I could ever let it go.

“Guilty Steal!”

Yuuna activated Guilty Steal.

Yuuna stole all of Ren’s aggro!

Shield in hand, Yano raised her guard as she stole all the aggro from me. Then, both Maeda and Yano used their recovery magic, healing me almost completely. Despite him breaking Yano’s guard somewhat, she was still taking every hit like a champ.

Nice, things are stabilizing! At the very least, I won’t have to fight him one-on-one. Might as well let Yano do the tanking.

I swiftly crafted my next Canesword with a damascus cane and a damascus sword.

“Let’s do that one more time to really get him stuck on Yano!”

Log messages flowed in, showing that Akira and the others were making moves.

Akira activated Sword Samba.

All of Ren’s skills are now available for use!

Nozomi activated Sword Samba.

All of Yuuna’s skills are now available for use!

Ren activated Dead End.

Dealt 4,279 damage to Deadly King!

Yuuna activated Guilty Steal.

Yuuna stole all of Ren’s aggro!

Then, more healing magic came from Maeda and Yano. Now that Yano had taken aggro from two Dead Ends, Deadly King would never take his eyes off her. We could just let her tank while we whittled him down!

“When his health falls to about half, he’s gonna use his ultimate. Until then, keep this up!” I said, crafting my third Canesword. Money was flying away like dust in the wind.

As the Deadly King continued to attack Yano, Akira and Akabane flanked him with attacks to whittle him down. I also threw in a few normal attacks to build up AP. It didn’t deal much damage, but I just needed those Art Points.

Akira readied herself and shouted, “Hah! Mimic!”

A cloud of smoke appeared around her.

At present, she was dual-wielding Skyfall and Mimic Fan. The result of her Mimic, of course, was that she had become a Deadly King—one who held both Skyfall and Mimic Fan, smacking the original around with them.

“Okay, AP's full! Here comes Sword Samba!”

Eww. A shiny-armored skeleton knight with Akira’s voice doing the cute Sword Samba? This is giving me the creeps.

Akira activated Sword Samba.

All of Ren’s skills are now available for use!

Still, it did the job. Whether the receiver liked it or not was unimportant!

Akira did that on purpose, didn’t she?!

Anyway, now that Akira and Abane had full AP, they used Sword Samba on both of us again. I used my ultimate, and Yano removed aggro. Things were running smoothly.

The battle continued at that pace for a while until his HP finally fell to half.

“HEH HEH HEH... YOU ARE FORMIDABLE, INDEED.”

Though he was a skeleton, he kinda seemed to be grinning with glee.

“Everyone, be careful! He’s gonna do it!” I warned the girls.

This is where he gets serious!

“I MUST REWARD YOUR STRENGTH—WITH MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!”

Deadly King raised his sword with both arms before stabbing it straight down into the earth.

There’s Crimson Calamity!

Crimson Calamity is a wide-area ultimate that bathes the surroundings in a tempest of flames. When it’s used, flames billow forth from the sword.

Last time, me and the lads had been obliterated by this. It was the first I’d seen of it, after all. But this time, we all knew about his ultimate. We had come in with a plan!

“GAZE UPON ME! CRIMSON CALAMITY!” The Deadly King’s voice echoed through the sky as he raised his sword aloft.

Just as he moved into his stance, we all leapt into action. The log window came up, overflowing with new information.

Yuuna activated Sprint.

Yuuna became fleet-footed!

Akira activated Hawk Strike.

Nozomi activated Hard Slash.

Ren activated Final Strike.

Yano used her speed boost to dash away from Crimson Calamity’s area-of-effect, successfully evading it.

Akira and Akabane pivoted, activating their arts to leap up and away. Ever versatile, these sword dancer arts could be used as an evasive maneuver to escape his ultimate.

With my Final Strike, I was the only one who couldn’t evade it with a skill activation. Nevertheless, I had a way.

“Here we go! Ultimate move!”

I drew my Canesword and lobbed it high into the air. Then, I followed it with a high jump! This launched me about twice as high as an ordinary Windmill would. The ultimate I had used took advantage of this leap. It was the combination of Turnover, Falling Leaf, and Quickdraw!

The Falling Leaf animation began with a high jump into the air, followed by a diving body press that used the momentum of the fall to attack the target. As it was a striking art, it naturally consumed HP. Knowing that I would have to use it, I left enough MP in advance to convert into the HP required for Falling Leaf.

We had planned all of this in advance because we knew he was guaranteed to use Crimson Calamity when his HP fell to half. Just taking advantage of our experience.

The jump was kind of ridiculously high, but this was a video game. It was so much fun to be able to perform such unrealistic feats while still feeling it as if it were real—a joy only possible within this game!

Fwooooom!

He used Crimson Calamity, coating the earth in a burning red.

Akira, Akabane, and I flew through the sky while Yano made enough distance with her dash.

Instantly after everyone's dodge, the billowing red flames burned away the places we had just stood.

Nice. A successful evasion!

During my jump, I caught up with the Canesword I’d thrown. Next, I got on top of the hilt of my sword.

Docking complete!

Then, the sword and my body were enveloped in an azure aura in the shape of a dragon—one might call it an azure dragon.

“Go, Descending Azure Dragooon!”

Enveloped in this aura, I began a high-speed descent directly toward the Deadly King!

Whoa! This is so fast, it’s kinda scary!

Pshooooow!

The falling dragon struck the Deadly King right on the head.

It was like a direct hit from a meteorite. If this kind of thing had happened in real life, it would have been against virtually all odds.

Combining Falling Leaf's diving body press with Quickdraw’s unsheath, making sure to throw the sword high up into the air first and riding the hilt of the sword on the way down to stab the enemy right in the head. I had to marvel that such a combination even existed!

I don’t get it at all! What is it, a diving sword press?

Regardless, I sure liked it! It was cool as heck, and it could be used as an evasive maneuver as well.

Y’know, I bet it’d be even cooler if I struck a cool pose with my arms crossed on the way down. I couldn’t do it this time because I’m not used to the skill yet, but if possible, I’d like to practice.

Meanwhile, as for the all-important damage...

Ren activated Descending Azure Dragon.

Dealt 5,735 damage to Deadly King!

Mmm, that is one tasty number!

It worked as an evasive action while outdoing even Dead End in damage. Falling Leaf required 100 AP to use, but I thought it gave a good return on the investment.

“Here comes the usual! Man, that damage is as crazy as ever!”

Yuuna activated Guilty Steal.

Yuuna stole all of Ren’s aggro!

Yano quickly followed up and stole my aggro away.

The only reason we could rattle off skills like this was because of our sword dancer duo, Akira and Akabane, throwing Sword Sambas our way. Regardless of the problems the players themselves had, sword dancers really were useful.

They added a ton of flexibility in battle, especially when there were two of them.

“That was cool, but I saw that grimace on your face, Ren! You’ve gotta be cooler. Maybe throw in a cool pose on the way down or something,” Akira suggested, still in the body of the Deadly King.

It’s a lot less cute when it comes from a skeleton!

“I wanted to!”

“It’s lovely that you’re such good friends, but our enemy still stands!”

Akabane was correct.

“Yeah, I know! Let’s keep it up!”

We continued to pile on the damage, staying wary of any more Crimson Calamities. A few more of them came, but every time, we dealt with them the same way as before.

“Ultimate move: Descending Azure Dragooon!”

Pshooooow!

Ren activated Descending Azure Dragon.

Dealt 5,735 damage to Deadly King!

Aw, yeah. I nailed the pose that time!

The damage from my attack reduced the Deadly King’s remaining health to zero. Finally, he fell to his knees.

“NGH... VERY WELL. I HAVE WITNESSED YOUR STRENGTH. I WILL LEND YOU MY AID.”

With that, he began to flicker and disappear.

Kokoru’s Golden Sweets was a success.

Kokoru can now summon Deadly King!

Heck yeah, we did it! Now Kokoru’s usefulness in battle had skyrocketed!

There was just one problem.

We didn’t get any EXP, gold, or drops at all?!

“Huh. Looks like recruiting them doesn’t count as defeating them, so you don't get rewards.”

Here I had thought we could look forward to some awesome EXP and loot. We’d killed a rare boss monster, but here we were with no rewards.

But hey! Throwing it all away for the sake of our minmax was dramatic in its own right! I’m cool with it.

Either way, Deadly King, I choose you!