Chapter 210: Reaching the Heavens Part 2

But we can worry about the advantages and disadvantages later. Right now we needed to address a certain bad news that was affecting us. This Kutanid right now is tough…… It’s easy to knock it off balance and bring it to the ground, but it’s toughness…… it was something else alright. Its body was currently way sturdier than that of any monster I have encountered before.

Ever since the battle started we have run out of our potions and we were substituting them with fish for HP recovery, but our weapons are the entirely different matter. Both our weapons and armor’s durability was going down as the battle raged on, so no we were literally being pushed back into a corner.

Even someone like me, with a variety of weapons at my disposal, was approaching my limit weapon-wise. Now I would like to have a weapon that can dish out frequent critical hits while not losing its durability. That would be nice. But I highly doubt a sword like that exists, when even my most sturdy weapons are meting away right before my very eyes. In this game, once your weapon or armor piece reaches zero durability, it is lost forever. Of course, there are some exceptions to that rule, but that seem to be extremely rare, so let’s not count on a miracle here.

Next, I don’t really think that it will be possible to defeat Kutanid unless Rei and I both bust our trump cards here, which is a point of concern in and out of itself……

「Sanraku-san, we must, go……!」

Sh*t, now that I think about it, why is it that people always try to push the heavy lifting onto my shoulders? I just want to be in the vanguard, that’s true, but I was never trying to get myself into position of commandeering others around.

What I’m worried about here is the phenomenon of certain bosses, which is being able to stop the damage being done to them thanks to its high physical defense. It’s not common and most occurs with some event bosses, but once it occurs it is really a pain in the ass to deal with. To give an example, you can inflict about ten thousand damage to a boss that has only thousand HP left, and you will end up inflicting only about fifty HP worth of damage. That kind of pain in the ass.

If something like that was to be applied to Kutanid, then we would really be in a whole lot of trouble. However, chipping its health bit by bit is also an option, as it will get us there eventually…… Yeah, so let’s get to it!

「Alright, I get it…… Let’s play some tag, shall we? Rei and I will run away from you, and you’ll try to catch up to us!」

「Sanraku-san, me too! I also would like to participate!」

「No, Akitsu Akane, you’ll have a different role this time. Just sit there and watch. It may just so happen that you’ll have to save our asses.」

「Right!」

「Now, prepare yourself, Kutanid…… “EXCEED CHARGE!!!”」

It was a mistake on your end to emerge to the surface and bring us here, Kutanid. Please tell me, what’s that shining above our heads all the time? It’s MOONLIGHT, isn’t it!? And guess what my Scorpion Gauntlets absorb for power?

The amount of moonlight the gauntlets absorbed should be more than enough to inflict devastating damage. And since it’s the final form, there is no meaning in holding back, right?

The Glittering Gauntlet transforms, revealing the golden core that was shining brightly, ready to unleash waves of destructive energy. Seeing that, Kutanid threw another punch my way, apparently turning into a complete muscle brain when faced with danger.

「I will be taking that side of yours! “REJECT”!!!」

I was the one to move first, but it was Kutanid that would have me within its reach first. However, just before a punch with its left arm manages to reach me, I twist my body around my left foot, using the momentum of the turn to position myself right where I wanted to be, before I slam my right foot to the ground and come to a halt.

Avoid another straight punch that Kutanid was trying to throw my way, and side step so that its left flank would be perfectly within my reach, with no interruptions between us.

Power output: one hundred twenty percent. With so much power about to release all at once, I must brace myself for my inevitable self-destruction. But even if that would not be enough, I am sure that Rei would be able to finish this thing off with her own attack.

Compared to the rest of its body, Kutanid’s flanks are fairly lightly protected. So the moment I strike Kutanid’s side after evading yet another attack I could feel the tip of the crystal pillar going into its body, accompanied by the feeling of eroding flesh and a stench that almost threw me into convulsions.

「If you have more tricks hidden up your sleeve…… Then hurry it up and spit it out!」

Rupture.

A crystal pillar emerges from the gauntlet and scoops out a huge chunk of flesh from Kutanid’s side. This results in a shockwave, one strong enough to bounce my body backwards like a rubber ball. Additionally, I could see cracks forming on the gauntlets’ surface, as well as mass of black smoke oozing out of them. If this was not a sign of clear malfunction, then I don’t want to know how such a sign is supposed to look like.

「It would be super convenient if that attack blew it up completely…… Alva! I need a little help here!」

「I am truly amazed that you can scream such pathetic lines with such confidence……!」

Because of that last attack, my current HP sits at the magnificent number of one. So that means that if I hit the ground now, it will be all over for me. My only salvation is that Alva manages to catch me in mid-air and prevent me from receiving fall damage.

Fortunately enough, Alva was able to swim in mid-air just as good as he was able to swim underwater here, so he managed to catch me before I hit the ground and died as a result. However, my current HP is one, so I cannot stay here and do nothing.

「What about Kutanid!?」

I do not care about my own HP right now. What of Rei’s attack!? I attacked Kutanid, but what about his reaction? This is what I saw when my vision finally stopped being so blurry and I could see normally.

VVVVVVVVVOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

「---- This is the beginning of the End, as well as the end of the Beginning…… “ARMAGEDDON”!!!」

Huge jet-black tentacles emerging from Kutanid’s back and sides…… It was the same kind of jet-black destruction that destroyed our ship seven days ago and dragged us all under the sea. And right about now, that mass of black tentacles was colliding with Rei’s pure white attack in the ultimate clash.