Ch.120115 – Necromancer

“Since I stole the laurel, isn’t it nice that I brought back an extra one with interest? Don’t you think so too, Nocturne?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“Your Highness, please… spare me… I didn’t do anything…”

“Ugh… people who drag things out are reeeally not my style. Don’t you want to see your family?”

The man grabbed the chin of the robed girl with one hand.

Her already gaunt and skinny cheeks were pressed down by his rough hand.

“Hic… hic… please… I don’t know anything…”

“Seems like a slave brat like you managed to escape by luck. You should be living like you’re dead, but there are always those who dream of revenge. Go take care of it and retrieve the laurel. Then I’ll safely bring your family from Arsheria’s Forest to the Empire.”

“Hic… I… can’t fight… I’ve never…”

“Nocturne, why can’t you understand what I’m saying?”

As he removed her robe with his other hand, a scrawny girl with a terrified face was revealed.

The man slowly stroked the girl’s hair with four fingers.

“I’m giving you an order right now.”

The prince held a ring made from a laurel.

As if proposing, the man carefully slipped it onto the girl’s finger and whispered in her ear.

“The Papal State will soon burn down the entire Arsheria’s Forest. If you want to save your siblings, you’d better hurry.”

The girl listening to the devil’s whisper had long, pointed ears.

* * *

Let me make a confession – when I was young, I was actually more interested in swords than magic.

Even in a fantasy world, magic was just a complicated study, but knights using aura were literally flying through the sky, so naturally I admired them.

Above all, being able to stand on two legs was so moving that as soon as I was old enough to hold a wooden sword, I begged the sword instructor to teach me.

Marquis Bastion had a unique philosophy about swords. He claimed that one-on-one duels between knights were like playing a game of Go.

Setting aside the question of how Go existed in that world with almost unchanged rules, his point seemed to be about finding the best probability in a fight.

He emphasized the virtues a perfect swordsman should have, saying that the person with the initiative always has the advantage when both use their best attacks and defenses, and that perfect swordsmanship doesn’t exist in the world – it’s all about adapting flexibly to your opponent’s moves.

Back when I thought of swordsmanship as just a type of sport, I was inspired by his radical ideas and followed him like a master, but the time to prove I could surpass my teacher came sooner than expected, and I regret not being able to hear more of his lectures.

[Veixel: I’ve never tried 10/10/10 difficulty either, but this boss is notorious for brutal patterns, so you need to focus on health management above all. You know the necromancer can only control one puppet at a time, but there are two extra puppets, right?]

“Yes, I know.”

[SaveMeFromGradSchool: When a new puppet appears, it absorbs the user’s attack patterns from the previous phase, so don’t expect the same attacks to work. Best strategy is to use Adella as much as possible in phases 1 and 2, then go all out in phase 3.]

[LG Chaos: NoName, are you really going with a schiavona instead of a claymore? Even though the main penalty is gone, the weapon penalty cuts your attack power in half, which is pretty fatal. Personally, I’d recommend something with higher damage.]

“I’m more comfortable with the schiavona. And I need the hand guard so I don’t drop the sword when casting magic.”

[LG Chaos: Alright, let’s go then!]

-She really skipped all the story

-Is this going to be a wall-breaker?

-How did she go from parting with the Knight Commander straight to the Part 2 boss lol

-Let’s go!

-I love Nocturne with schiavona♥I love Nocturne with schiavona♥I love Nocturne with schiavona♥I love Nocturne with schiavona♥

-Please save our Adella TT_TT

-Wonder what Nocturne’s pattern will be like at 10/10/10?

└ Probably at 320bpm

└ Is this a rhythm game? lol

We entered a cave with an eerie atmosphere.

Sure enough, a small child emerged from the darkness and blocked our path.

[Necromancer · Nocturne Nailink (0/1)]

Wearing a robe too big for her body, the hem dragged on the ground, raising dust with every step.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… hic… I’m so sorry…”

A girl expressing sincere regret from our first meeting.

Adella found it creepy and grabbed tightly around my waist, her tail standing straight up.

“I have a family to protect… I think you who were trapped in the forest would understand…”

[Necromancer ‘Nocturne’ summons a random ‘Puppet1’.]

[Infamy difficulty is set to 10.]

[Unfathomable Explorer · Mesomia Evening (0/1)]

-We’re screwed!

-A legendary 3-star right from the start?

└ Who is she?

└ She appears in the founding history lessons at the Academy in the main story

-Doesn’t even appear below Infamy 3

-Red ponytail lady, hmm

└ According to the lore book, despite appearances, she’s 59 years old

└ Not 200 or 500, but specifically 59 feels weirdly relatable lol

-What’s her pattern?

[Veixel: Ah… you got a difficult one from the start. Mesomia Evening has very high magic resistance, so magic is almost useless against her. You must fight her with melee weapons only.]

[LG Chaos: Nocturne’s summoned corpses are always fixed at phase 3, so Mesomia will start with her clone pattern right away. Adella can’t manage health alone in this situation, so you must attack together.]

-When Mesomia appears as an objective in ranked games, I always hate dealing with her lol

-For real, even when you’re winning, her health drains so fast that you often get reversed

└ Why have I never seen her in my thousand games?

└ She only appears in Platinum 4 and above

└ Interesting, didn’t know there was such a condition

└ More interesting that you’re stuck in Bronze/Silver after a thousand games

-What rank do you need to see Nocturne?

└ Diamond 4

└ Damn

-You need to clear Nightmare mode regularly to even reach Diamond

I couldn’t expect to team up with Adella like in the Part 1 boss fight. Divide and conquer seemed to be the answer.

Since the main body would likely be stronger than the clone, I had Adella deal with the illusion.

When facing necromancer-type enemies, the orthodox approach would be to attack the main body directly – the girl concentrating with her eyes closed over there. But viewers were warning against this for an obvious reason.

A powerful magical barrier surrounded the entire cave, making it impossible to reach the girl. Some kind of illusion magic, I suppose.

I casually observed the red-haired woman before me.

Her body was perfectly balanced, ideal for the life of a swordswoman.

Except for one thing – her chest was too large.

“Did you know that large breasts reduce agility and cause back pain no matter what posture you take?”

[Veixel: What?]

-????

-What did she just say? lol

-Is she trash-talking about the chest size?

-Mesomia’s are pretty big though lol

-NoName is on team flat chest… noted…

I’m not joking – if you truly want to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship, removing your breasts could be a way to break through barriers.

There was actually a tennis player who had breast reduction surgery and rose from world ranking 300 to number 1.

You can endure pain, but the problem is that our bodies instinctively avoid painful postures, which creates specific habits when wielding a sword.

I briefly wondered if such details would be implemented in an AI, but treating her as a human was the best approach for now.

“So there must be habits, or rather patterns, that I should focus on exploiting.”

If I could remove those ridiculous breasts, that would be perfect.

Even though she’s supposedly dead, I decided to help her reach the next level of mastery.

* * *

Bae Yeon-ji, who competed in the second-tier league under the lesser-known nickname Veixel, couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.

A streamer who appeared like a comet in World of Arsheria.

Seeing her creative gameplay made Yeon-ji consider trying Nightmare mode again after a long time.

However, as she became more familiar with the streamer’s combat style, it didn’t take long to realize that every movement was extraordinary.

‘She’s trained in swordsmanship.’

When one of the team’s starters contracted Yato disease, Yeon-ji made her second-tier league debut and, like most rookie pros, spectacularly ruined the game. The flood of hate comments was heartbreaking.

Having felt the wall between herself and not just first-tier but even second-tier league pros, she questioned whether it was appropriate for her to give advice to this person.

Veixel had lived with the pride that even the worst pro is better than an amateur.

This streamer was now shattering that notion.

The two women on screen rushed toward each other.

Mesomia was an opponent whose patterns were nearly impossible to predict.

She was the very same Mesomia who appeared as the third objective (neutral legendary boss) in Yeon-ji’s debut match.

In an intense 6v6 team fight, Veixel was the only survivor and could have led her team to victory by defeating Mesomia, but she was too nervous and helplessly fell to the boss’s combo attacks.

‘People said all sorts of things, like how could a pro die to an NPC.’

What would NoName show them?

NoName took the initiative to attack first.

Even while charging, she changed the trajectory of her sword multiple times.

Just as Veixel thought this was wasting stamina unnecessarily, Mesomia’s response was determined.

Seeing NoName’s sword pointing backward, Mesomia quickly closed the distance. It was a decision based on the judgment that it would take time for the sword to return to its proper trajectory.

Female humanoid bosses are generally fast.

Veixel’s mind raced.

She would truly regret not telling NoName about the enemy’s weapon movement speed if it became her downfall. After all, Bae Yeon-ji was someone who truly loved Adella.

That’s when it happened.

[LG Chaos: Now! Parry!]

“I know…!”

Ting-!

Mesomia’s sword bounced off the hand guard protruding from NoName’s sword hilt.

‘She parried with the handle instead of the blade?’

Moreover, the tip of her sword, which had been pointing backward, somehow reached above Mesomia’s head.

The initiative shifted to NoName.

The advantage of broadsword-type weapons like the schiavona is initiative.

Once you start attacking, even if blocked, the initiative remains with you, and some techniques reset positions without giving the opponent any advantage even after a successful parry, allowing for powerful pressure.

And NoName was not one to miss such points.

The sharp sound of clashing metal echoed through the cavern.

Though it looked like they were exchanging intense blows, NoName was steadily inflicting bleeding damage on the boss.

Wanting to help somehow, Veixel watched the battle intently.

She noticed that NoName’s attacks were excessively focused on thrusting.

Thrusting and slashing should be properly mixed to avoid monotonous patterns.

Surely she knew that?

But Mesomia’s responses were surprisingly slow.

Considering her normal sword speed, it was reduced by half.

After a while, Veixel figured out the reason and laughed in disbelief.

Between broadswords, thrust attacks can only be blocked with dynamic defense.

Static defense requires precisely identifying where the thin sword will strike, which is difficult, and even if predicted correctly, the attacker can change the impact point mid-attack.

The reason for Mesomia’s slow dynamic defense was that her arms kept getting caught on her chest when moving side to side, preventing her from gaining any speed.

And NoName was impressive for persistently targeting that chest area.

Having completely forgotten she was in a Discord call, Veixel unconsciously muttered:

“Wow, that’s seriously insane…”

“More.”

“…What?”

“Is that all your appreciation? No other compliments?”

“Oh… NoName, you’re the best! Amazing! You’re turning this cave upside down!”

-LOLOLOLOL

-If you can’t give advice, at least give compliments lol

-She’s the head cheerleader now lol