CH 117

Chapter 117 Defeat the Apostle Battle: Fierce Encounter

“You’ve got to be kidding. ……”

A roar drowns out Rinne’s complaints.

Sukuna didn’t even have time to agree with Rinne’s words and struggled to control her mind that was about to explode.

She resisted the urge to go and help Ryuri, who was about to be torn apart by a giant dragon out of the corner of her eye. Sukuna clenched her teeth as hard as she could and gripped her hands to endure; if this were a reality, her hand would have bled.

An unimaginable pain pierced Sukuna’s chest. Still, it was too late. The distance between them is too far apart.

And then, without a chance to do anything, Ryuri had returned to being a polygon shard because of the giant Dragon’s attack.

Devastation.

The blow to the raiding party is so fatal, leaving only those words to describe the situation accurately.

The giant Dragon’s no-motion wave attack was a little less powerful than the first time it was released, probably because of the short charge time it took.

Nevertheless, no matter how weak it is compared to the first wave, its immense power was enough to instantly kill Erumi, who took a direct hit from close range.

But, if we look at the fact that Erumi was the only one killed by this second wave, it could be said that the damage was relatively small compared to the one that immediately wiped four players earlier.

The wave itself grew weaker as it moved away from its source. If you are at the edge of the field, you can withstand it even without defensive magic; in the best case, if you cast defensive magic, you will not take any damage.

On the other hand, if you are at close range, it is powerful enough to crush guards and barriers, which then eventually will kill you. It was an easy to understand simple attack.

The reason why Rinne survived unscathed was that she had put up a barrier early for Sukuna, who was retreating.

Sukuna, too, was able to slip inside the barrier just in time, so she didn’t take any damage. And ironically, thanks to the recovery spell that Ryuri had cast on her, Sukuna’s HP had fully recovered.

Besides Rinne and Sukuna, the only other person who was able to break through the wave unharmed was Shuya. He had survived the surge with the range guard arts of his [one-handed shield] skill.

Tetsuya had activated his guard arts, but because he was at close range, the shield itself is broken to pieces. That being said, the damage to Shuya HP was minimum, all thanks to the arts and his shield sacrifice.

Soramaru is now injured because he tried to protect a stray wizard, they were too slow to evacuate in time, and although Soramaru didn’t die, one of his legs was taken away, and he was buried in the rubble.

The wizard player was blown away as well, but thanks to Soramaru’s devotion, the damage was minimal.

The other two players, Ryuri of the [Corporate Slave special force] and Necro of the [Dragon Fang], took some damage but were not fatally wounded thanks to their position at the edge of the field.

This was also the case with the two men in black whose names were unknown to Sukuna; they both are the healer of the [Dragon’s Fang].

And for what it’s worth, if we look at the remaining member who is still alive after the wave of destruction was released, there should still be a way to continue the assault.

The problem was that the giant Dragon had started to move right after the wave.

This time, there were only a few seconds to spare, whereas earlier, it had remained motionless for almost a minute.

First of all, Drago, who was still distracted by Erumi’s death right in front of her, was killed. Maybe the fact that the giant Dragon had stopped moving after the first wave has caused her to relax just a little, but even so, her death ultimately came at the worst timing.

And that fact alone has caused further unrest through the raid.

The Dragon’s next target was Soramaru. At this point, Rinne realized that the giant Dragon’s behavioral pattern had changed entirely.

Drago was targeted first because of the enormous amount of hate she received for her last big move.

However, its next target should have been Sukuna.

Because Sukuna was the last target before Drago pulled it away with her attack, but instead, it went straight for Soramaru, who was missing a leg.

Soramaru stared at it with a dumbfounded expression, then lower his head to apologize to everyone and was trampled. The stray wizard was also crushed to death. Necro died protecting a healer in black. He, too, was easily killed as he was.

And now, Ryuri was killed.

Erumi, Drago, Soramaru, the nameless wizard, Necro, the black-robed healer, and Ryuri.

It took less than 30 seconds for all seven players to be killed.

“Uu… UUUUGGHhhhhhhh….”

Groaning, Sukuna bit her lip and desperately suppressed her emotions.

Rinne apologized silently to Sukuna while gently holding her hand.

(I’m sorry, Nana. I know it’s hard. I know it’s painful.)

In order to save her dearest friends from the onslaught of the giant Dragon, Rinne held back Sukuna, who was about to jump out of the barrier.

The situation is too confusing. But if they were to lose Sukuna in this situation, their chances of winning would be completely gone.

She had to prevent that.

That is an absolute situation; she will not allow to happen.

The giant Dragon still had more than 2.5 gauges of HP left. Even if Rinne using her trump card, even if Shuya decides to use his true strength, Sukuna’s existence still would be the key to finish the fight.

The next target of the giant Dragon, who had killed almost all of the rearguard, was Tetsuya, who was still using a potion to recover.

Seeing this, Rinne somehow understood why the giant Dragon had left Sukuna, who was supposed to hold the highest hate value, and go to kill the other player.

It wasn’t strange that the giant Dragon’s behavior pattern changed as its HP entered the third gauge. At first, she thought the hate had been reset, but no.

That no-warning wave attack itself must serve as some kind of marking tool. The algorithm of this monster AI probably prioritized the target based on the damage they took from that attack.

That’s why they hate is now directed at Tetsuya, skipping Sukuna, who probably still amassed quite a lot of hate.

However, even Rinne can’t read the Dragon’s kill order. It’s true that Drago was positioned in an easy-to-kill location, but she still had a lot of hp left, and from there, it concentrated itself to hunt the defenseless rearguard.

In any case, its behavior pattern is too unclear.

However, it was not good to let Tetsuya be killed here. There were only four of them left in the raid.

“GUOOOOOOOOOO!”

The invisible breath that Sukuna had struggled with earlier attacked Tetsuya.

Perhaps Tetsuya was vaguely aware of its identity. He quickly put up his great shield to guard. But unlike a single shot directed at Sukuna, the Dragon’s breath now is coming in a stream-like form.

And because he had to keep guarding, Tetsuya SP is significantly reduced.

If it continues, I will be crushed. The moment Tetsuya have this thought, one player managed to stop the assault.

“Are you okay?”

“Sorry, Shuya, thanks for the help.”

“It’s okay. We will help each other.”

It was Shuya, both of his hands were holding a great sword emitting a faint light, and he forcefully cut off the Dragon’s breath with it.

Master Skill [Twin Great Sword], a skill that can be acquired by increasing both [Great Sword] and [Dual Wielding] skill proficiency to 500; this was also a skill that was not owned by anyone except Shuya at this time.

“I didn’t want to show this, but oh well.”

Shuya sighs, but he keeps a relaxed expression on his face.

It had been almost a month and a half in real life since he had started playing this game, and he had spent more than a month of his life inside this world.

Yes, the level of the player named Shuya, the third-ranked in the [Knights of the Round Table], who has been diving in this world longer than any other player in the entire game, is 94. It is also the current highest level a player has attained.

Even so, Shuya doesn’t have the immense firepower of Sukuna or Drago, nor does he have a trump card weapon.

He doesn’t have the enthusiasm of a professional gamer like Drago or Rinne, nor does he have the unique talents of Sukuna.

He just leveled, completed quests, and enjoyed walking around the city. That’s how Shuya enjoyed WLO as a normal game.

But he loved to see passionate players like them.

Because he lacked their passion, he can bask under their brilliance.

That’s why he wants to support them and help them in any way he can.

Shuya’s resolve to show his Twin Swords here could be said to as a manifestation of his pure wish.

(Although this is already an impossible game, isn’t it?)

As mentioned earlier, Shuya doesn’t have any hidden trick that can be a trump card, and he has only recently acquired these [Twin Great Sword], so his proficiency is not that high. In other words, he simply hasn’t got any powerful arts.

Even so, there is one good reason why he uses [Twin Great Sword].

The firepower this skill brings is immense.

To put it bluntly, Drago’s death without participating in most of the attacks was the biggest miscalculation of the raid party.

Her [Starlight Slasher] was indeed a powerful art, and it had actually taken out a tenth of the giant Dragon’s total HP by itself.

However, if Drago had lived to continue the fight, she would have continued to shave off extra HP using a simple attack.

At least for Shuya and Rinne, they expected Drago to be able to cut the entire HP bar by herself; losing her was truly heartbreaking.

Thanks to Sukuna’s ability to cut down more than they expected, they were barely able to reach their target, but Drago’s early retirement was still painful.

From here, if Rinne plays her trump card, she can probably erase one more gauge. On top of that, if Sukuna, Shuya, and Tetsuya fight as hard as they can, there is a chance that they can manage to cut down to the final gauge.

But they need to be wary of the gauge-breaking retaliation that has killed a total of 11 players.

Can they safely get through that phase? Which has twice caught the player off-guard.

And after that, they need to beat the Dragon at its peak power in its final gauge.

No matter how hard you try, it’s hopeless. That was the reason why Shuya judged this battle to be an impossible game.

However, there is one element that could make a breakthrough.

It was the presence of Sukuna, who was being held back by Rinne right now.

She’s not in her usual mild-mannered, relaxed self. From the looks of it, she’s ready to go on a rampage at any given moment.

Anger, or perhaps disappointment. Shuya had observed Sukuna from a distance earlier, and she looked like she was dying to go help her allies.

Still, looking at this condition, Rinne’s decision to stop her was right.

At that moment, the Giant Dragon was more agile and cunning than the one Shuya was facing now and probably had more power in its attacks.

It doesn’t matter whether Shuya goes, Tetsuya goes, or Sukuna goes.

After all, Sukuna build is a pure attacker. Unlike a tank, she doesn’t have the capability to protect others. That’s why, if she goes, it is almost guaranteed that she will die sooner or later while unable to protect them.

If she wasn’t a tank of Noel’s caliber, it was the right decision not to let her go.

However, Shuya feels the current Sukuna probably could do something because right now, an eerie atmosphere is floating around her.

“Oops, Twin Strike!”

It was not a claw slash but a crushing press attack.

Shuya received it using a frontal attack.

“Guh… you damn overweight Dragon!”

Shuya forced the presses back while putting a lot of force into the two large swords that were screaming under pressure.

“[Cross Spark]!”

Tetsuya, who had recovered most of his HP, plunges into the giant Dragon and pushes it back to create an opening.

Lightning attribute seems to be as effective as always; the giant Dragon is terrified just by looking at Shuya’s Sword.

“Rinne!”

“It’s okay to do it now!?”

“I’ll manage somehow! There’s no way we can shave it to next gauge anyway, and more importantly, it’s tough to do this without Sukuna-chan!”

How much can Rinne trust his last sentence? Anyhow, she can only believe in them and Sukuna.

“Got it! Nana, are you okay now?”

“i…… I’m fine!”

“That feeling, don’t forget that!”

“Nn!”

After leaving Sukuna alone, Rinne finally decided to play her hidden card.

“I seek the truth of overlapping layers. I wish for ten stars.”

Rinne entered the fray and began chanting as she watched the three players clash head-on with the giant Dragon.

This is a rare skill, [Rensei Jutsu] {Binary Star}. This is a skill that Rinne once acquired when she defeated a certain monster, and it is the greatest arsenal she had.

The skill’s effect is very complicated, but simply put, it allows you to cast the same magic in multiple layers, up to ten.

What’s the difference between this and casting the same spell over and over again?

The difference is that the power of each spell increases with the number of spells stacked on top of each other, similar to [Jyuju Sakura] effect.

For example, if there are two spells stacked on top of each other, the power multiplier increases by 1.5, which is like multiplying 1+1 by 1.5. With the same amount of MP, you can cast a spell with three times the power instead of simply doubling it.

For three-stack, the multiplier is two. It continues to add up the multiplier by 0.5 points, and at ten stacks, you get 5.5 times the power. Since the magic itself will be launched ten times, it will become 55 times more powerful than normal.

In the end, it really is similar to the [Juju Sakura]in that 55-multiplier aspect, but without the self-damage.

Naturally, this comes with its own troublesome disadvantages.

First is the MP problem. Because Rensei Jutsu releases magic “at once,” it consumes MP for the number of times it is stacked.

So, if you want to stack ten spells, you need to be able to use that spell at least ten times.

The second is how long it took to activate.

In exchange for the recoil damage [Jyuju  Sakura] has the greatest advantage of eating its target in a matter of seconds.

In contrast, [Rensei Jutsu] sacrifices all of its speed.

The calculation formula goes like this: the number of spells stacked X the power multiplier X 5 seconds.

For example, if you stack two spells, you get 2 X 1.5 X 5 seconds, totaling 15 seconds.

If you have ten spells, it will take 275 seconds (10 5.5 5 seconds), or a little over 4.5 minutes.

And the third one. While this skill is active, Rinne cannot move at all, and she has to become a completely stationary turret.

Four and a half minutes without being able to move at all in front of a giant dragon with its various kind of attacks and breaths.

Should Rinne take a direct hit from the giant Dragon’s attack, at most, she would probably could only take one attack. It is also possible for her to die in one hit.

“I’m counting on you, all three of you.”

A mutter, almost like a prayer, escaped Rinne’s lips as she prepared herself to stack her spells.

“I call upon the flames that split the sky, with this wand in the earth to serve as its guide.”

She placed her [Blue Jade Wand] to the ground and started the chant.

The magic that Rinne will use this time is the [Lightning Ballista]. It’s the only magic she can fire ten times and still belong to advanced magic.

“The thunderbolt that resides in my arm let it be unleashed here and now as a crossbow.”

This is the [Lightning Ballista] full chant. ‘full chanting’ is one of the ways to increase the power of magic in WLO.

Though Rinne usually using it chantless, but this time is different. She had time to. And in any case, she wanted to raise the power as much as possible.

That’s all Rinne could do right now.

“Overlap.”

A light floats behind Rinne.

This is the first, then Rinne continued to chant again.

“I call upon the flames that split the sky, with this wand in the earth to serve as its guide. The thunderbolt that resides in my arm, let it be unleashed here and now as a crossbow.”

One by one, carefully. Rinne is careful about her chant because it could go wild the moment she made the slightest mistake.

“Overlap.”

The second light came; it connects itself to the first light.

“Two hundred and forty seconds to go.”

There was still a long way to go.

While praying for the safety of the vanguard, Rinne kept repeating the magic chant carefully.

“OOOOOH!”

Tetsuya released [Cross Spark] with a vigorous roar.

The moment it points its focus to him, Sukuna dive into the Dragon’s bossom.

“[Deadly Hammer]!”

“GUOOOO!

Zunk! The art [Deadly Hammer] sank into the Dragon’s body and producing an unbelievable loud sound.

The form it took was just a simple blow that could be called a [Super Slap], but the impact was not so simple since it lifts the Dragon’s massive body, even only for an instant.

“Are you serious…”

“hee…”

Even her two allies were astonished by its terrifying power, but the secret of her power lay in the power of [Gravity], which is the attribute of the [Yoiyami].

When attached to a weapon, the gravity attribute has two simple effects.

The first is to make the weapon heavier, and the second is to make the weapon lighter.

If that’s all there is to it, it may not seem very meaningful. However, these two effects are tied to a function [when the attack connects].

This is an effect that is triggered when you successfully hit something. The wielder can equip the weapon as usual, but when the weapon land on the target, the strike it caused will turn into incomprehensibly heavy or light as feather force.

Basically, it is only the “heavier” effect that is useful when attacking, but in WLO, where the weapon’s weight is incorporated into the damage calculation, making it “heavier” will increase its power while making it “lighter” will reduce its power.

you can use the “lighter” effect when you want to take or capture something, so it is not entirely useless.

By the way, this [Yoiyami] can multiply its weight up to 3 times and, its [lighter] effect is limited to 0.01x.

It goes without saying what Sukuna uses right now is the [Heavier] effect.

So, what Sukuna currently wielded was like a weapon that required 885 strength; of course, the calculations weren’t that simple, but at least the blow from this weapon would weigh nearly a ton.

However, to activate this [Gravity], the wearer’s MP is required.

Why did Sukuna save this incredibly powerful weapon? Its because the [Gravity] itself can only be invoked a few times in Sukuna’s hands, whose MP is innately low as a unique characteristic of the Oni race.

“GUOOOOO…..”

The three of them continued to gather the hate of the giant Dragon for several minutes, all for the sake of Rinne.

The battle had been going fairly well, but the time had finally come.

The Dragon finally noticed Rinne’s presence.

“That’s not good.”

[Rensei Jutsu] continues to slowly build up hate while it is active. This is because this art is counted as magic by the system.

The giant Dragon was already in a state where he couldn’t understand hate management or something similar; ironically, that was the only reason he had finally noticed the existence of Rinne, who had managed to stay hidden from his sight up to this point.

With nine spells at ready behind her, Rinne was about to chant the last one. At such moment, the giant Dragon took a deep breath and aimed toward Rinne.

A behavior never seen before. No, to be precise, it behaved similarly at the first roar, but what was different from that time is that the current giant Dragon’s mouth is filled with a strong energy charge.

Rinne only needs ten more seconds. Shuya and Tetsuya made eye contact for a brief moment, and then, as if to seal their agreement, they stood in the line of fire between the giant Dragon and Rinne.

“Tetsuya-san, Shuya-san!”

“It’s okay! So keep quiet!”

“I’ll definitely prevent it.”

Tetsuya, a reliable tank, and Shuya, a top-level player, are acting as double shields.

However, when Sukuna saw the amount of energy the giant Dragon was charging, she still didn’t think it could be prevented.

In the first place, it’s her job to protect Rinne.

What Sukuna was carried within her body was the power to protect Rinne.

And she still feels an unspoken regret because she couldn’t protect the other players; that feeling was still eating Sukuna from the inside.

Sukuna stood further behind Tetsuya and Shuya and instantly changed her equipment to [Kagenui].

She then clapped her hands together, preparing for a dance.

Rare skill [Oni no Mai]. {dance of demon}

The dance is, the 3rd form [Mizukagami no Mai] {Water Mirror dance}

Continued with 1st form [Rasetsu no Mai] and 2nd form [Moroha no Mai] {Rakshasa dance & Double-edged dance}

The giant Dragon unleashed a massive breath at the three players standing in the way to protect Rinne.

The first to be reached by the extreme light was Tetsuya.

He put away his weapon and switched the new shield he had taken out using his two hands, activating the most powerful defensive art.

[Two-handed Great Shield] skill, the defensive art [EX-Layared Phalanx].

It was the most powerful art to defend from penetrating attack, the art immediately deploy ten defensive shields in front of its user.

At the moment of collision, three of it were instantly burned away.

One second later, two more. And next second, another one.

Six shields were destroyed in just a few seconds, but Tetsuya was still enduring with the remaining four.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

He knows it’s just a voice filled with his spirit.

The durability of his arts won’t change no matter how loud he screams.

Still, Tetsuya shouted.

To inspire himself. To inspire his friends.

His battle lasted less than ten seconds.

However, the power of the breath was steadily reduced, and Tetsuya was blown away by it.

Next is Shuya, who thrust his twin great sword into the ground to form a cross and grasped their two hilts to activate his arts.

[Great Sword] skill, [Blaze Shield] arts.

Each of is an art much weaker than Tetsuya’s [EX-Layared Phalanx]; however, Shuya’s [Twin Great Swords] allows him to activate two arts with two swords, one for each.

Now his two overlapped defensive arts were ready to receive the Dragon’s breath that’s been weakened thanks to Tetsuya deathly resolve.

(I’ll try to prevent it. Sukuna-chan doesn’t have any defensive arts. If I don’t prevent it here, it’s over.)

The giant Dragon’s breath exploded the moment it touches Shuya’s [Blaze Shield].

Even after Tetsuya cancels out some of its damage, Shuya still gets pushed back. The power is just that tremendous.

After a few seconds of struggle, an unpleasant metal crackling sound echoed through the air.

Shuya then saw it, the crack in his great sword.

(no good. It’s not good. Please endure….)

Shuya intends to at least misdirect the breath trajectory.

The moment Shuya thought to that, the Twin Defense art collapsed.

The light swallowed Shuya before he had time to apologize to Sukuna and Rinne, who was standing behind him.

(Both of them using their lives to protect Rin-chan. I will not let it end as futile resistance. Definitely,  I will stop it.)

“Feed on my hunger, Fangs of the Wolf King.”

Sukuna activates all the buff skills she had to increase her attack power and faces the oncoming shining breath head-on.

Normally. You can’t cancel out an emission attack like breath or magic with a normal attack.

However, there are several exceptions.

One is to use a weapon that can guard against them.

The other is to use defensive arts skills with weapons that do not have such abilities.

Another is to use art with the same attribute to counteract the attack.

For example, Shuya had just used wind-elemental sword art to cut off the breath of a giant dragon.

Any attribute attack can counter a non-attribute release attack.

Or perhaps if the giant Dragon’s breath were wind-attribute-based, then his art would be enough to stop it on its tracks.

That was probably Shuya’s judgment at the time; that’s why he chose the wind attribute art to respond to the Dragon’s breath.

However, all of the weapon skills that Sukuna possessed were not able to learn arts with attributes.

And even if she could, she would not be able to determine the attribute of the breath in front of her.

That’s why both Tetsuya and Shuya tried to protect themselves from the breath by using defense instead of attack.

However, Sukuna is standing here now.

This is because she has prepared a means to offset the breath.

That was her dance 3rd form, [Mizukagami].

The effect is that ‘for 30 seconds after activation, give the user a means to cancels out any physical or magical attack with user’s attack’.

In the past, when she fought Kohaku in TORIRIA, she told Sukuna that “3rd form is a countermeasure for magic.”

This is exactly what she meant when she said that the 3rd form could counter magic.

(Sorry. And thank you.)

Sukuna inwardly gave thanks to [Kagenui] in her hand.

It was the best weapon that had supported Sukuna for the past ten days.

But here they are. They have arrived at its last moment.

In order to annihilate the all destroying starlight attack.

Sukuna uses the most powerful art of the [Blunt Weapon] skill.

[Meteor Impact].

Along with a thunderous rumble that was about to rupture eardrums, Sukuna unleashed the greatest possible attack with the maximum amount of firepower she could muster. And after a few moments of fierce resistance, the breath of light is dispelled.

(Thank you, guys.

Thank you, everyone.)

Earlier, Tetsuya and Shuya’s lives were scattered.

After them, Sukuna sacrificed her weapon and unleashed [Meteor Impact], prepared to be completely stunned by its recoil.

As if to offer her gratitude, Rinne completes [Rensei Justu].

“The brilliance of the ten layered stars, right here and right now, be the blow of salvation!”

A lot of crackling sound surrounds Rinne, and her right arm is aimed at the giant Dragon.

At this moment, the buzzing sound of thunderbolts sounds so pleasant to her, and all her magic is already loaded in it.

Her hand is pointed straight at the giant Dragon, while it could not even move to see it.

The Dragon had released such a mighty breath. It was inevitable that the giant Dragon’s body would experience a severe recoil, causing it unable to move.

“Now! It’s my turn!”

There was no need for hesitation.

She squeezed her right arm and thrust it out.

The light of doom is released in silence, crashing in as if it was a straight punch.

It was a ten-layered magic attack, one that Rinne had never fired even once before.

And just like a meteor, a ray of light pierced the giant Dragon’s body.

Chapter 117 Defeat the Apostle Battle: Fierce Encounter

“You’ve got to be kidding. ……”

A roar drowns out Rinne’s complaints.

Sukuna didn’t even have time to agree with Rinne’s words and struggled to control her mind that was about to explode.

She resisted the urge to go and help Ryuri, who was about to be torn apart by a giant dragon out of the corner of her eye. Sukuna clenched her teeth as hard as she could and gripped her hands to endure; if this were a reality, her hand would have bled.

An unimaginable pain pierced Sukuna’s chest. Still, it was too late. The distance between them is too far apart.

And then, without a chance to do anything, Ryuri had returned to being a polygon shard because of the giant Dragon’s attack.

Devastation.

The blow to the raiding party is so fatal, leaving only those words to describe the situation accurately.

The giant Dragon’s no-motion wave attack was a little less powerful than the first time it was released, probably because of the short charge time it took.

Nevertheless, no matter how weak it is compared to the first wave, its immense power was enough to instantly kill Erumi, who took a direct hit from close range.

But, if we look at the fact that Erumi was the only one killed by this second wave, it could be said that the damage was relatively small compared to the one that immediately wiped four players earlier.

The wave itself grew weaker as it moved away from its source. If you are at the edge of the field, you can withstand it even without defensive magic; in the best case, if you cast defensive magic, you will not take any damage.

On the other hand, if you are at close range, it is powerful enough to crush guards and barriers, which then eventually will kill you. It was an easy to understand simple attack.

The reason why Rinne survived unscathed was that she had put up a barrier early for Sukuna, who was retreating.

Sukuna, too, was able to slip inside the barrier just in time, so she didn’t take any damage. And ironically, thanks to the recovery spell that Ryuri had cast on her, Sukuna’s HP had fully recovered.

Besides Rinne and Sukuna, the only other person who was able to break through the wave unharmed was Shuya. He had survived the surge with the range guard arts of his [one-handed shield] skill.

Tetsuya had activated his guard arts, but because he was at close range, the shield itself is broken to pieces. That being said, the damage to Shuya HP was minimum, all thanks to the arts and his shield sacrifice.

Soramaru is now injured because he tried to protect a stray wizard, they were too slow to evacuate in time, and although Soramaru didn’t die, one of his legs was taken away, and he was buried in the rubble.

The wizard player was blown away as well, but thanks to Soramaru’s devotion, the damage was minimal.

The other two players, Ryuri of the [Corporate Slave special force] and Necro of the [Dragon Fang], took some damage but were not fatally wounded thanks to their position at the edge of the field.

This was also the case with the two men in black whose names were unknown to Sukuna; they both are the healer of the [Dragon’s Fang].

And for what it’s worth, if we look at the remaining member who is still alive after the wave of destruction was released, there should still be a way to continue the assault.

The problem was that the giant Dragon had started to move right after the wave.

This time, there were only a few seconds to spare, whereas earlier, it had remained motionless for almost a minute.

First of all, Drago, who was still distracted by Erumi’s death right in front of her, was killed. Maybe the fact that the giant Dragon had stopped moving after the first wave has caused her to relax just a little, but even so, her death ultimately came at the worst timing.

And that fact alone has caused further unrest through the raid.

The Dragon’s next target was Soramaru. At this point, Rinne realized that the giant Dragon’s behavioral pattern had changed entirely.

Drago was targeted first because of the enormous amount of hate she received for her last big move.

However, its next target should have been Sukuna.

Because Sukuna was the last target before Drago pulled it away with her attack, but instead, it went straight for Soramaru, who was missing a leg.

Soramaru stared at it with a dumbfounded expression, then lower his head to apologize to everyone and was trampled. The stray wizard was also crushed to death. Necro died protecting a healer in black. He, too, was easily killed as he was.

And now, Ryuri was killed.

Erumi, Drago, Soramaru, the nameless wizard, Necro, the black-robed healer, and Ryuri.

It took less than 30 seconds for all seven players to be killed.

“Uu… UUUUGGHhhhhhhh….”

Groaning, Sukuna bit her lip and desperately suppressed her emotions.

Rinne apologized silently to Sukuna while gently holding her hand.

(I’m sorry, Nana. I know it’s hard. I know it’s painful.)

In order to save her dearest friends from the onslaught of the giant Dragon, Rinne held back Sukuna, who was about to jump out of the barrier.

The situation is too confusing. But if they were to lose Sukuna in this situation, their chances of winning would be completely gone.

She had to prevent that.

That is an absolute situation; she will not allow to happen.

The giant Dragon still had more than 2.5 gauges of HP left. Even if Rinne using her trump card, even if Shuya decides to use his true strength, Sukuna’s existence still would be the key to finish the fight.

The next target of the giant Dragon, who had killed almost all of the rearguard, was Tetsuya, who was still using a potion to recover.

Seeing this, Rinne somehow understood why the giant Dragon had left Sukuna, who was supposed to hold the highest hate value, and go to kill the other player.

It wasn’t strange that the giant Dragon’s behavior pattern changed as its HP entered the third gauge. At first, she thought the hate had been reset, but no.

That no-warning wave attack itself must serve as some kind of marking tool. The algorithm of this monster AI probably prioritized the target based on the damage they took from that attack.

That’s why they hate is now directed at Tetsuya, skipping Sukuna, who probably still amassed quite a lot of hate.

However, even Rinne can’t read the Dragon’s kill order. It’s true that Drago was positioned in an easy-to-kill location, but she still had a lot of hp left, and from there, it concentrated itself to hunt the defenseless rearguard.

In any case, its behavior pattern is too unclear.

However, it was not good to let Tetsuya be killed here. There were only four of them left in the raid.

“GUOOOOOOOOOO!”

The invisible breath that Sukuna had struggled with earlier attacked Tetsuya.

Perhaps Tetsuya was vaguely aware of its identity. He quickly put up his great shield to guard. But unlike a single shot directed at Sukuna, the Dragon’s breath now is coming in a stream-like form.

And because he had to keep guarding, Tetsuya SP is significantly reduced.

If it continues, I will be crushed. The moment Tetsuya have this thought, one player managed to stop the assault.

“Are you okay?”

“Sorry, Shuya, thanks for the help.”

“It’s okay. We will help each other.”

It was Shuya, both of his hands were holding a great sword emitting a faint light, and he forcefully cut off the Dragon’s breath with it.

Master Skill [Twin Great Sword], a skill that can be acquired by increasing both [Great Sword] and [Dual Wielding] skill proficiency to 500; this was also a skill that was not owned by anyone except Shuya at this time.

“I didn’t want to show this, but oh well.”

Shuya sighs, but he keeps a relaxed expression on his face.

It had been almost a month and a half in real life since he had started playing this game, and he had spent more than a month of his life inside this world.

Yes, the level of the player named Shuya, the third-ranked in the [Knights of the Round Table], who has been diving in this world longer than any other player in the entire game, is 94. It is also the current highest level a player has attained.

Even so, Shuya doesn’t have the immense firepower of Sukuna or Drago, nor does he have a trump card weapon.

He doesn’t have the enthusiasm of a professional gamer like Drago or Rinne, nor does he have the unique talents of Sukuna.

He just leveled, completed quests, and enjoyed walking around the city. That’s how Shuya enjoyed WLO as a normal game.

But he loved to see passionate players like them.

Because he lacked their passion, he can bask under their brilliance.

That’s why he wants to support them and help them in any way he can.

Shuya’s resolve to show his Twin Swords here could be said to as a manifestation of his pure wish.

(Although this is already an impossible game, isn’t it?)

As mentioned earlier, Shuya doesn’t have any hidden trick that can be a trump card, and he has only recently acquired these [Twin Great Sword], so his proficiency is not that high. In other words, he simply hasn’t got any powerful arts.

Even so, there is one good reason why he uses [Twin Great Sword].

The firepower this skill brings is immense.

To put it bluntly, Drago’s death without participating in most of the attacks was the biggest miscalculation of the raid party.

Her [Starlight Slasher] was indeed a powerful art, and it had actually taken out a tenth of the giant Dragon’s total HP by itself.

However, if Drago had lived to continue the fight, she would have continued to shave off extra HP using a simple attack.

At least for Shuya and Rinne, they expected Drago to be able to cut the entire HP bar by herself; losing her was truly heartbreaking.

Thanks to Sukuna’s ability to cut down more than they expected, they were barely able to reach their target, but Drago’s early retirement was still painful.

From here, if Rinne plays her trump card, she can probably erase one more gauge. On top of that, if Sukuna, Shuya, and Tetsuya fight as hard as they can, there is a chance that they can manage to cut down to the final gauge.

But they need to be wary of the gauge-breaking retaliation that has killed a total of 11 players.

Can they safely get through that phase? Which has twice caught the player off-guard.

And after that, they need to beat the Dragon at its peak power in its final gauge.

No matter how hard you try, it’s hopeless. That was the reason why Shuya judged this battle to be an impossible game.

However, there is one element that could make a breakthrough.

It was the presence of Sukuna, who was being held back by Rinne right now.

She’s not in her usual mild-mannered, relaxed self. From the looks of it, she’s ready to go on a rampage at any given moment.

Anger, or perhaps disappointment. Shuya had observed Sukuna from a distance earlier, and she looked like she was dying to go help her allies.

Still, looking at this condition, Rinne’s decision to stop her was right.

At that moment, the Giant Dragon was more agile and cunning than the one Shuya was facing now and probably had more power in its attacks.

It doesn’t matter whether Shuya goes, Tetsuya goes, or Sukuna goes.

After all, Sukuna build is a pure attacker. Unlike a tank, she doesn’t have the capability to protect others. That’s why, if she goes, it is almost guaranteed that she will die sooner or later while unable to protect them.

If she wasn’t a tank of Noel’s caliber, it was the right decision not to let her go.

However, Shuya feels the current Sukuna probably could do something because right now, an eerie atmosphere is floating around her.

“Oops, Twin Strike!”

It was not a claw slash but a crushing press attack.

Shuya received it using a frontal attack.

“Guh… you damn overweight Dragon!”

Shuya forced the presses back while putting a lot of force into the two large swords that were screaming under pressure.

“[Cross Spark]!”

Tetsuya, who had recovered most of his HP, plunges into the giant Dragon and pushes it back to create an opening.

Lightning attribute seems to be as effective as always; the giant Dragon is terrified just by looking at Shuya’s Sword.

“Rinne!”

“It’s okay to do it now!?”

“I’ll manage somehow! There’s no way we can shave it to next gauge anyway, and more importantly, it’s tough to do this without Sukuna-chan!”

How much can Rinne trust his last sentence? Anyhow, she can only believe in them and Sukuna.

“Got it! Nana, are you okay now?”

“i…… I’m fine!”

“That feeling, don’t forget that!”

“Nn!”

After leaving Sukuna alone, Rinne finally decided to play her hidden card.

“I seek the truth of overlapping layers. I wish for ten stars.”

Rinne entered the fray and began chanting as she watched the three players clash head-on with the giant Dragon.

This is a rare skill, [Rensei Jutsu] {Binary Star}. This is a skill that Rinne once acquired when she defeated a certain monster, and it is the greatest arsenal she had.

The skill’s effect is very complicated, but simply put, it allows you to cast the same magic in multiple layers, up to ten.

What’s the difference between this and casting the same spell over and over again?

The difference is that the power of each spell increases with the number of spells stacked on top of each other, similar to [Jyuju Sakura] effect.

For example, if there are two spells stacked on top of each other, the power multiplier increases by 1.5, which is like multiplying 1+1 by 1.5. With the same amount of MP, you can cast a spell with three times the power instead of simply doubling it.

For three-stack, the multiplier is two. It continues to add up the multiplier by 0.5 points, and at ten stacks, you get 5.5 times the power. Since the magic itself will be launched ten times, it will become 55 times more powerful than normal.

In the end, it really is similar to the [Juju Sakura]in that 55-multiplier aspect, but without the self-damage.

Naturally, this comes with its own troublesome disadvantages.

First is the MP problem. Because Rensei Jutsu releases magic “at once,” it consumes MP for the number of times it is stacked.

So, if you want to stack ten spells, you need to be able to use that spell at least ten times.

The second is how long it took to activate.

In exchange for the recoil damage [Jyuju  Sakura] has the greatest advantage of eating its target in a matter of seconds.

In contrast, [Rensei Jutsu] sacrifices all of its speed.

The calculation formula goes like this: the number of spells stacked X the power multiplier X 5 seconds.

For example, if you stack two spells, you get 2 X 1.5 X 5 seconds, totaling 15 seconds.

If you have ten spells, it will take 275 seconds (10 5.5 5 seconds), or a little over 4.5 minutes.

And the third one. While this skill is active, Rinne cannot move at all, and she has to become a completely stationary turret.

Four and a half minutes without being able to move at all in front of a giant dragon with its various kind of attacks and breaths.

Should Rinne take a direct hit from the giant Dragon’s attack, at most, she would probably could only take one attack. It is also possible for her to die in one hit.

“I’m counting on you, all three of you.”

A mutter, almost like a prayer, escaped Rinne’s lips as she prepared herself to stack her spells.

“I call upon the flames that split the sky, with this wand in the earth to serve as its guide.”

She placed her [Blue Jade Wand] to the ground and started the chant.

The magic that Rinne will use this time is the [Lightning Ballista]. It’s the only magic she can fire ten times and still belong to advanced magic.

“The thunderbolt that resides in my arm let it be unleashed here and now as a crossbow.”

This is the [Lightning Ballista] full chant. ‘full chanting’ is one of the ways to increase the power of magic in WLO.

Though Rinne usually using it chantless, but this time is different. She had time to. And in any case, she wanted to raise the power as much as possible.

That’s all Rinne could do right now.

“Overlap.”

A light floats behind Rinne.

This is the first, then Rinne continued to chant again.

“I call upon the flames that split the sky, with this wand in the earth to serve as its guide. The thunderbolt that resides in my arm, let it be unleashed here and now as a crossbow.”

One by one, carefully. Rinne is careful about her chant because it could go wild the moment she made the slightest mistake.

“Overlap.”

The second light came; it connects itself to the first light.

“Two hundred and forty seconds to go.”

There was still a long way to go.

While praying for the safety of the vanguard, Rinne kept repeating the magic chant carefully.

“OOOOOH!”

Tetsuya released [Cross Spark] with a vigorous roar.

The moment it points its focus to him, Sukuna dive into the Dragon’s bossom.

“[Deadly Hammer]!”

“GUOOOO!

Zunk! The art [Deadly Hammer] sank into the Dragon’s body and producing an unbelievable loud sound.

The form it took was just a simple blow that could be called a [Super Slap], but the impact was not so simple since it lifts the Dragon’s massive body, even only for an instant.

“Are you serious…”

“hee…”

Even her two allies were astonished by its terrifying power, but the secret of her power lay in the power of [Gravity], which is the attribute of the [Yoiyami].

When attached to a weapon, the gravity attribute has two simple effects.

The first is to make the weapon heavier, and the second is to make the weapon lighter.

If that’s all there is to it, it may not seem very meaningful. However, these two effects are tied to a function [when the attack connects].

This is an effect that is triggered when you successfully hit something. The wielder can equip the weapon as usual, but when the weapon land on the target, the strike it caused will turn into incomprehensibly heavy or light as feather force.

Basically, it is only the “heavier” effect that is useful when attacking, but in WLO, where the weapon’s weight is incorporated into the damage calculation, making it “heavier” will increase its power while making it “lighter” will reduce its power.

you can use the “lighter” effect when you want to take or capture something, so it is not entirely useless.

By the way, this [Yoiyami] can multiply its weight up to 3 times and, its [lighter] effect is limited to 0.01x.

It goes without saying what Sukuna uses right now is the [Heavier] effect.

So, what Sukuna currently wielded was like a weapon that required 885 strength; of course, the calculations weren’t that simple, but at least the blow from this weapon would weigh nearly a ton.

However, to activate this [Gravity], the wearer’s MP is required.

Why did Sukuna save this incredibly powerful weapon? Its because the [Gravity] itself can only be invoked a few times in Sukuna’s hands, whose MP is innately low as a unique characteristic of the Oni race.

“GUOOOOO…..”

The three of them continued to gather the hate of the giant Dragon for several minutes, all for the sake of Rinne.

The battle had been going fairly well, but the time had finally come.

The Dragon finally noticed Rinne’s presence.

“That’s not good.”

[Rensei Jutsu] continues to slowly build up hate while it is active. This is because this art is counted as magic by the system.

The giant Dragon was already in a state where he couldn’t understand hate management or something similar; ironically, that was the only reason he had finally noticed the existence of Rinne, who had managed to stay hidden from his sight up to this point.

With nine spells at ready behind her, Rinne was about to chant the last one. At such moment, the giant Dragon took a deep breath and aimed toward Rinne.

A behavior never seen before. No, to be precise, it behaved similarly at the first roar, but what was different from that time is that the current giant Dragon’s mouth is filled with a strong energy charge.

Rinne only needs ten more seconds. Shuya and Tetsuya made eye contact for a brief moment, and then, as if to seal their agreement, they stood in the line of fire between the giant Dragon and Rinne.

“Tetsuya-san, Shuya-san!”

“It’s okay! So keep quiet!”

“I’ll definitely prevent it.”

Tetsuya, a reliable tank, and Shuya, a top-level player, are acting as double shields.

However, when Sukuna saw the amount of energy the giant Dragon was charging, she still didn’t think it could be prevented.

In the first place, it’s her job to protect Rinne.

What Sukuna was carried within her body was the power to protect Rinne.

And she still feels an unspoken regret because she couldn’t protect the other players; that feeling was still eating Sukuna from the inside.

Sukuna stood further behind Tetsuya and Shuya and instantly changed her equipment to [Kagenui].

She then clapped her hands together, preparing for a dance.

Rare skill [Oni no Mai]. {dance of demon}

The dance is, the 3rd form [Mizukagami no Mai] {Water Mirror dance}

Continued with 1st form [Rasetsu no Mai] and 2nd form [Moroha no Mai] {Rakshasa dance & Double-edged dance}

The giant Dragon unleashed a massive breath at the three players standing in the way to protect Rinne.

The first to be reached by the extreme light was Tetsuya.

He put away his weapon and switched the new shield he had taken out using his two hands, activating the most powerful defensive art.

[Two-handed Great Shield] skill, the defensive art [EX-Layared Phalanx].

It was the most powerful art to defend from penetrating attack, the art immediately deploy ten defensive shields in front of its user.

At the moment of collision, three of it were instantly burned away.

One second later, two more. And next second, another one.

Six shields were destroyed in just a few seconds, but Tetsuya was still enduring with the remaining four.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

He knows it’s just a voice filled with his spirit.

The durability of his arts won’t change no matter how loud he screams.

Still, Tetsuya shouted.

To inspire himself. To inspire his friends.

His battle lasted less than ten seconds.

However, the power of the breath was steadily reduced, and Tetsuya was blown away by it.

Next is Shuya, who thrust his twin great sword into the ground to form a cross and grasped their two hilts to activate his arts.

[Great Sword] skill, [Blaze Shield] arts.

Each of is an art much weaker than Tetsuya’s [EX-Layared Phalanx]; however, Shuya’s [Twin Great Swords] allows him to activate two arts with two swords, one for each.

Now his two overlapped defensive arts were ready to receive the Dragon’s breath that’s been weakened thanks to Tetsuya deathly resolve.

(I’ll try to prevent it. Sukuna-chan doesn’t have any defensive arts. If I don’t prevent it here, it’s over.)

The giant Dragon’s breath exploded the moment it touches Shuya’s [Blaze Shield].

Even after Tetsuya cancels out some of its damage, Shuya still gets pushed back. The power is just that tremendous.

After a few seconds of struggle, an unpleasant metal crackling sound echoed through the air.

Shuya then saw it, the crack in his great sword.

(no good. It’s not good. Please endure….)

Shuya intends to at least misdirect the breath trajectory.

The moment Shuya thought to that, the Twin Defense art collapsed.

The light swallowed Shuya before he had time to apologize to Sukuna and Rinne, who was standing behind him.

(Both of them using their lives to protect Rin-chan. I will not let it end as futile resistance. Definitely,  I will stop it.)

“Feed on my hunger, Fangs of the Wolf King.”

Sukuna activates all the buff skills she had to increase her attack power and faces the oncoming shining breath head-on.

Normally. You can’t cancel out an emission attack like breath or magic with a normal attack.

However, there are several exceptions.

One is to use a weapon that can guard against them.

The other is to use defensive arts skills with weapons that do not have such abilities.

Another is to use art with the same attribute to counteract the attack.

For example, Shuya had just used wind-elemental sword art to cut off the breath of a giant dragon.

Any attribute attack can counter a non-attribute release attack.

Or perhaps if the giant Dragon’s breath were wind-attribute-based, then his art would be enough to stop it on its tracks.

That was probably Shuya’s judgment at the time; that’s why he chose the wind attribute art to respond to the Dragon’s breath.

However, all of the weapon skills that Sukuna possessed were not able to learn arts with attributes.

And even if she could, she would not be able to determine the attribute of the breath in front of her.

That’s why both Tetsuya and Shuya tried to protect themselves from the breath by using defense instead of attack.

However, Sukuna is standing here now.

This is because she has prepared a means to offset the breath.

That was her dance 3rd form, [Mizukagami].

The effect is that ‘for 30 seconds after activation, give the user a means to cancels out any physical or magical attack with user’s attack’.

In the past, when she fought Kohaku in TORIRIA, she told Sukuna that “3rd form is a countermeasure for magic.”

This is exactly what she meant when she said that the 3rd form could counter magic.

(Sorry. And thank you.)

Sukuna inwardly gave thanks to [Kagenui] in her hand.

It was the best weapon that had supported Sukuna for the past ten days.

But here they are. They have arrived at its last moment.

In order to annihilate the all destroying starlight attack.

Sukuna uses the most powerful art of the [Blunt Weapon] skill.

[Meteor Impact].

Along with a thunderous rumble that was about to rupture eardrums, Sukuna unleashed the greatest possible attack with the maximum amount of firepower she could muster. And after a few moments of fierce resistance, the breath of light is dispelled.

(Thank you, guys.

Thank you, everyone.)

Earlier, Tetsuya and Shuya’s lives were scattered.

After them, Sukuna sacrificed her weapon and unleashed [Meteor Impact], prepared to be completely stunned by its recoil.

As if to offer her gratitude, Rinne completes [Rensei Justu].

“The brilliance of the ten layered stars, right here and right now, be the blow of salvation!”

A lot of crackling sound surrounds Rinne, and her right arm is aimed at the giant Dragon.

At this moment, the buzzing sound of thunderbolts sounds so pleasant to her, and all her magic is already loaded in it.

Her hand is pointed straight at the giant Dragon, while it could not even move to see it.

The Dragon had released such a mighty breath. It was inevitable that the giant Dragon’s body would experience a severe recoil, causing it unable to move.

“Now! It’s my turn!”

There was no need for hesitation.

She squeezed her right arm and thrust it out.

The light of doom is released in silence, crashing in as if it was a straight punch.

It was a ten-layered magic attack, one that Rinne had never fired even once before.

And just like a meteor, a ray of light pierced the giant Dragon’s body.