Headless Armored Cavalry – 4

-KWAANG!

With the sound of an explosion and flames spreading, the armored horse reared its front legs. The one I had just thrown was the last.

While it was stunned and couldn’t regain its senses, I retreated far back, caught my breath, and reduced the Combat Fatigue that had filled to the end of the gauge. As the Combat Fatigue decreased, my limbs felt significantly lighter.

‘The sensation is quite severe.’

I rotated my shoulders this way and that, loosening up. This was all due to the Combat Fatigue debuff.

If Combat Fatigue fills to the end of the gauge, a debuff is applied, reducing the character’s attack speed and movement speed by 20% each.

In the game, it didn’t matter if a debuff was applied or not, but now that I was actually moving my own body, that reduction felt much more significant than I had expected.

‘It might be a bit risky, but once the rune slots open, I’ll have to go find the Combat Fatigue Debuff Immunity Rune right away.’

There was no other choice. HP was practically a meaningless stat in Dark Mode, so I’d skip it to begin with. In that case, from the middle stage onwards, Combat Fatigue would fill to the end of the gauge even if I parried just a couple of enemy attacks.

If a debuff was easy to get and felt incredibly impactful, then it was naturally right to devise a way to solve it.

While I was recalling the strategy for the dungeon that contained the Debuff Immunity Rune, the horse, which had taken all five bombs to the head, thrashed about wildly. Its neighing cries echoed for a long time.

Soon after, the armor surrounding its head and neck began to shatter one by one.

Steel armor, easily thicker than my finger, broke off its body in pieces, embedding themselves into the dirt ground with thudding sounds.

Finally, all the armor was stripped away, revealing its gray body. Prrr, it snorted again. Its hooves powerfully kicked the dirt ground.

Even so, it was going to be minced horse meat soon enough. Now that its armor was shattered, I just needed to parry its spear and roughly bash it anywhere, like a normal boss fight.

‘Alright, let’s begin.’

I held the Blood-Soaked Sword upside down and extended the hilt forward so the sword’s tip pointed towards my abdomen. After taking a deep breath, I plunged the sword into my belly just like that.

With a ‘Puk!’ and the sensation of the sword piercing my belly, the sword’s hilt trembled. A part of the blade sticking out was dyed an even deeper red.

This was the Blood-Soaked Sword’s special ability: it drains the user’s HP and amplifies attack power in proportion to the amount drained.

The amplified attack power was 0.5% per 1% of HP drained. Since it was a percentage-based ratio, not a fixed value, the less HP I invested in, the more advantageous it was.

There was no need to even mention it for someone like me, whose HP stat was literally 1.

‘This should do it.’

The sensation of blood being drained stopped. It meant my HP had decreased to its limit of 1%. I pulled the sword out of my belly. With a ‘Puwak!’, blood droplets that the sword hadn’t fully absorbed splattered down.

The hole in my abdomen healed instantly. The Blood-Soaked Sword was glowing a menacing red. It was the color that appeared when the attack power increase was at its maximum.

My HP might only be 1% left, but that didn’t matter anyway. Whether I had 100% HP or 1% HP, just grazing me would kill me all the same.

-Kihhihihing!

The horse charged at me at a much faster speed than before. Perhaps because all its iron armor had been stripped off, the intimidating presence that made the ground vibrate was no longer felt.

I saw the rider’s right shoulder on top of it twitch as he pulled the spear back far, and I prepared to parry it. An attack that gave a damage window from the start-I was luckier than I thought.

The rider extended his arm straight and thrust the spear. As I parried the spear tip, a sharp sound of metal clashing against metal rang out, and the rider, having lost his balance, swayed wildly.

I swung my sword three times at its flank and then pulled back. Blood splattered from where the sword had cut. The horse snorted, raised its front hooves high, and then slammed them down on the spot where I had been.

After rolling to dodge its front hooves, I slashed its leg with my sword. Of course, it didn’t collapse with severed tendons or anything like that; the horse moved away as if nothing had happened, with only a faint scratch.

I needed to deal as much damage as possible before the attack power buff’s duration ended. This time, I ran towards the rider in reverse. As we ran towards each other, the distance quickly closed.

The rider held the spear upside down and raised it above his head. The horse’s speed noticeably increased. This was the pattern where it charges at full speed and raises its spear above its head.

‘This isn’t something to parry; I need to roll.’

My mind instantly finished its calculations. The horse leaped forward as if clearing an obstacle, closing the distance. The rider, adding his own weight to the horse’s, slammed the spear downwards.

I quickly rolled forward before the attack could land. A terrifyingly loud tearing sound was heard from behind.

If I had foolishly swung my sword to parry it, there would be no way to respond to the consecutive grab attacks that would follow while my body was pushed back by the recoil. After that? Instant death, needless to say.

It’s commonly known as the ‘if you don’t know, you die’ pattern.

‘But if I just roll to dodge, it’s free damage time.’

I rolled to its side and swung my sword freely. Both the horse and the rider were busy regaining their posture. The Blood-Soaked Sword’s unique crisp hitting sounds were heard in succession.

Only after hitting it nearly seven times did the rider regain his posture and gallop away into the distance.

After that, things proceeded smoothly.

As I repeatedly parried normal attacks, rolled to dodge heavy attacks, and struck during every opening, the red color surrounding the Blood-Soaked Sword gradually faded.

It meant less than 30 seconds of its duration remained. My heart grew urgent as I confirmed it.

‘If I hadn’t invested in Divinity, the buff would have ended long ago. Has it already been over 3 minutes?’

Among the stats a player could choose, ‘Divinity’ not only increased holy attack power but also had the ability to increase the duration of all buffs.

Especially because it was a stat that all past origins started with at 1, except for Clerics, its early-game growth rate was insanely high compared to other stats.

Compared to Divinity 1, Divinity 10 could make all types of buffs last almost 50% longer. To that extent, each early investment had a different class of impact.

The Blood-Soaked Sword’s special ability had a base duration of 3 minutes, so with my initial investment of just 3 points in the stat, the 49.5% attack power increase buff would last for almost 30 seconds longer.

And if I maxed out the stat at 10, the buff duration alone would approach 5 minutes.

‘It should be caught soon, but…!’

I rolled to dodge an attack and slashed the horse’s hind leg. After parrying its hind-leg kick pattern, I swung my sword one more time, and the horse galloped away.

However, its speed had significantly slowed down compared to just before.

The buff duration was cutting it close, so it was a relief. I felt relieved. It was as good as caught now.

Parrying, a special attack that could be attempted when the Combat Fatigue gauge was full, could practically be considered only possible against humanoid enemies.

This was because monster-type or beast-type enemies’ Combat Fatigue gauges would decrease in real-time no matter what they did, making it impossible to prioritize filling only the Combat Fatigue gauge while leaving HP untouched.

Except for this Headless Armored Cavalry, that is.

That was why I specifically chose to fight it by parrying. Because parrying attacks that could be parried to fill the Combat Fatigue gauge and then using Parrying significantly shortened the clear time.

Furthermore, when its armor was intact, Combat Fatigue wouldn’t accumulate at all.

‘The next attack… Good. Parrying will be possible.’

I held a small, compact shield in my left hand. It was an item I had never used before, but its usage naturally came to mind.

I waited until it got close, and at the moment it thrust its spear, I swung my shield-clad arm widely as if fanning.

-Teong!

A crisp sound echoed, and the horse lost its balance and slumped down. The rider on top of it tumbled off ungracefully.

Parrying.

A type of advanced parry that could only be used against enemies with a full Combat Fatigue gauge. It was also the technique Rije had prepared as a final counter in the entrance exam.

When attacking an enemy whose balance has been broken by Parrying, it deals immense damage to the target with a unique animation specific to each weapon category.

The value, which included 50% of the target’s maximum HP plus the damage of the equipped weapon, ignored all of the enemy’s resistances and defenses. Considering the HP already chipped away during the offense and defense to fill the Combat Fatigue gauge, it was practically an instant-kill technique.

I approached the horse, which was slumped on the ground, breathing heavily. It’s a common misconception, but this one’s true body isn’t the rider on top, but the horse itself.

The Blood-Soaked Sword’s special ability was on the verge of deactivating. Before its duration ran out, I aimed for its head and thrust the sword in with all my might. It snapped its neck without even a scream.

As the horse collapsed, the struggling figure of the rider, who had been trying to get up from the ground, slowly vanished as if evaporating. The spear in its hand rolled on the ground.

Its incredibly massive, gray body toppled sideways. A ‘Kung!’ sound was heard, and dust rose. It neither got up nor moved again.

“Got it.”

Headless Armored Cavalry cleared.