Ch.338Changed Raid NPC. (4)

I’ve heard stories about elephants disliking ants or being eaten by them. But I don’t think that means all elephants ‘lose’ to ants.

-KUUUNG!!

“The point is, if you can’t pierce the hide, then poison or whatever else is useless.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. And I don’t have hide. I’m a golem.”

The undead were flying like ants and becoming mere stains on the wall with just a light kick from Gor, who had grown giant but not quite tall enough to touch the ceiling. At first, I thought about stepping in to push them away myself, but I wasn’t gaining any experience points. Gor pushed me back, saying there was no need for me to waste my health pointlessly, and stepped forward herself. What am I, watching from behind while putting a woman in front? But then again, a 3-meter tall Gor is quite impressive. Wait, before being a woman, she’s a golem, right? Ugh, I’m getting brainwashed bit by bit.

-KUUNG!

“……”

“Hm? Gor?”

Gor, who had been gathering undead at her feet and sweeping them away in one go, suddenly stopped and started looking around, making me tilt my head in confusion. What are you doing? Let’s hurry up?

“Master, didn’t you notice? The clock tower was big, but this is too much even so.”

“…Huh?”

She gestured for me to climb onto her hand, and when I did, she placed me on her shoulder and began moving forward quickly, parting the undead like a stream.

Then, at what might have been the umpteenth intersection, Gor turned left.

“Look. It’s exactly like the path we were on earlier.”

“Oh.”

Although there were no undead stains on the walls that Gor had created earlier, the scene of swarming undead overlapped with what we had just been looking at, like a magic eye puzzle. So I looked back.

“…Why didn’t we notice this?”

“I don’t know. My detection abilities aren’t picking up any problems.”

She said she only just noticed it herself after watching for a while. When Gor looked back as well, the intersection corridor had changed into a single path. Shit. Hasn’t it been about 20 minutes since the battle started? We’ve been wasting our efforts completely.

“I’m deeply sorry. For me to be by your side and yet this…”

“No, I was just mindlessly following behind you too. I’m not blaming you, but more importantly, doesn’t that hurt?”

-CLANG! CLAAANG! CLANG! CLANG!!

“Not really. It’s nothing.”

-KUUUNG!!

She casually pushed away the undead who were striking her legs with spears, axes, and swords, sending them flying. As Gor started moving forward again, she continued speaking.

“According to my detection, we should turn left at the next alley, then go straight to reach the entrance. But for some reason, I’ve been forgetting that and fighting, then checking the path again and moving forward, repeating this cycle.”

“Could something be interfering with the status window?”

“…I don’t think so. It seems like something is causing problems with our perception.”

This is a first—seeing Gor show uncertainty. Her giant gray face frowned with lowered eyebrows, and she continued forward, simply pushing through the undead with her body rather than fighting them. Following her instructions, we turned left at the intersection.

“As expected, even though I checked directly before turning, not only is the problem not detected, but my detection abilities confirm there’s no issue.”

Gor, who had said the entrance should be straight ahead after turning at the intersection, angrily swung her fist, literally sending the surrounding undead flying, then returned to her normal size. Hmm, what should we do about this?

“…There was one time before when I couldn’t handle a situation. I’m not sure if this is the same.”

“Really?”

“I believe I told you about it before…”

Gor talked about what happened two years ago in Aigram, when Avalitia approached Ragni. Indeed, at that time, we had wrapped a scarf around Ragni’s neck to hide the necklace. You said you couldn’t counter his magic, right? Then, could it be…

“…A demon. Or something power-level that’s breaking through my detection and interfering with us is the most likely possibility.”

“If it’s a demon here, would it be Greed? But in the game, he didn’t have this kind of ability?”

Besides, you said this place is surrounded by holy law. Would a demon deliberately crawl into holy law that weakens them just to interfere with us? Nah, that doesn’t make sense…

“…Actually, it does? Come to think of it, Episode 7 was exactly that kind of situation.”

Episode 7 [Eight Holy Nation. Abandoned Hope] was about the high cardinal and the high priests under him making pacts with demons, and the protagonist—in this case, Saint Liselotte—becoming completely hostile to the church she had been excommunicated from.

The cardinal and priests sacrificed the pope as an offering to demons and summoned Sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, using its power to spread death among people and then starting religious scams by pretending to save them.

And even the Empire, the strongest nation on the continent, began to collapse after the queen died and demons gradually took over, so the protagonist and players who came to the Holy Nation seeking help ended up fighting against the high-ranking church officials when they discovered the truth.

One of the characters that appeared there was the female priest that Ragni just killed—a former saint who “absorbed” a high-ranking demon and could use both holy power and demonic energy. And certainly, the cardinal who led the pope’s murder was…

“…Shit. No way, right?”

“Master?”

This is the Empire region from Episode 5. Even if it weren’t, there’s no reason for the Holy Nation to send a cardinal directly. Even if they did send someone, it would be a mere priest or a mid-boss level high priest like the one Ragni killed. Surely we wouldn’t face the notoriously gimmicky Cardinal raid from Episode 7 here in the Empire…

“Master.”

“Huh?”

While I was lost in thought, Gor tapped my shoulder, picked me up, and jumped to stick to the ceiling. W-what’s going on?!

“It’s Greed.”

“What?”

-CRAAACKLE!!!

[Demon of Greed (Gula) (Split Body): Level 625]

[HP: 36,000]

The ground where we had been suddenly tore apart, and the undead that had been approaching were crushed as if being devoured by something and swallowed beneath the ground. The status window only now seems to recognize its approach, displaying its specs. Shit. We’re really in trouble now.

“Gor, we’re screwed.”

“I know. Our compatibility with that thing is terrible—”

“No, that’s not it. This place is within holy law, right? The fact that this bastard crawled in here means Greed isn’t the real problem.”

Greed is actually easy to farm if you know how to deal with it. It’s just a mid-boss level, and even though its level is higher than in the game, Greed is still Greed. It’s not even the main body, so its HP doesn’t even reach 100,000—a few of my normal attacks would finish it. The problem is…

“The reason this bastard can enter here without any damage and isn’t weakened by the holy law is evidence that the Episode 7 boss is currently in the Imperial capital.”

“…Episode 7 was the [Holy Nation], right? What happened to Episode 6 that Episode 7 appears first?”

“That’s what I’m wondering too.”

In the story, [Sloth (Pigritia) of the Seven Deadly Sins] who appears in Episode 6 isn’t defeated there. It’s the protagonist and players’ first defeat against the Seven Deadly Sins. Or rather, the enemy retreats in what feels like a story-driven draw, but Episode 6 [Aiti] is devastated by its attack, with many important craftsmen dying or becoming disabled, suffering tremendous damage.

And because no one knew where it fled to, the protagonist and players went to the Holy Nation for help, only to discover that it had become Sloth’s lair. And when they fought Sloth again there, it turned out that what it showed in Episode 6 was actually it holding back—a cliché story.

“The problem is that it had a vicious gimmick that even veteran players complained about.”

“I don’t know what ‘veteran player cutter’ means, but judging by your expression, it seems like a more terrible enemy than that Greed.”

-TAP!

Gor retreated while holding me and set me down on the ground. I nodded and rolled my shoulders. Sigh, we need to hurry. If Ira and Rey get caught in that cutting pattern, there’s really no hope. Ragni or the Headmaster might be able to endure even if they can’t break through it, but even they would be in danger since there’s no way to win.

“Hey, maw-face.”

[KEEEEC⎯⎯⎯⎯!!! FOOD!!]

Greed inherently has a skill called Mana Burn. It’s not a skill you can dodge on your own, and even if you defend perfectly, it doesn’t reduce HP but drains MP—a nasty skill. And according to the game’s setting, ‘all humans have magical power,’ including players of course. But I…

-CRAAACKLE!!!

“Master?!!”

As a Mountain Guardian NPC, I originally had no magical power, and after passing the trial, I gained just 1 MP. Because of Mana Burn, attacks don’t work on it, and due to my magical power, unlike ‘everyone else in Eight’s world,’ I only lose 1 MP from its Mana Burn and take no damage. I’ve thought about this before—if I didn’t die in Episode 4, Greed might have been killed by a Mountain Guardian NPC because of this terrible compatibility.

“That’s what I call the Mountain Guardian advantage. Now die.”

My arm that the black maw bit into doesn’t hurt at all, unfortunately. Moreover, due to the spec difference, I don’t get pushed back even when colliding with its large body. Since I have no magical power, there’s nothing for it to absorb when it bites me, so it can’t eat me either.

I really couldn’t tell this to anyone else. Normal people would either suffer excruciating pain when their magical power is depleted or actually die. In the game too, the basic strategy was to reduce MP to 0 and then kill with normal attacks. That’s why I told Liselotte to focus on the main body since there are many split bodies.

As I swing my fist at the Greed split body that’s biting my arm with confused, filthy eyes, its lower jaw shatters without it even knowing what hit it. Gor jumped toward me in surprise at my action, but…

“Stay back. If it steals your magical power and MP, it will recover.”

For me, with only my sleeve torn, killing it was easier than killing the surrounding undead.