Chapter 59
After finishing their strategy meeting, the brave warriors arrive at the Dullahan’s location through a magic circle.
As everyone is reviewing the plan once more:
「Sorry for the wait!」
「We’re back!」
「We’re here!」
Elena, Cocono, Mew, and Kaiser, who had been working separately, return.
Looking around, broadcast panels have been set up in various places.
「Very well. Then, you two, if you please.」 Lucifer says.
Emi and Mew nod in response.
「Further power, dwell in their blades! Sharp Edge!」
They cast light magic to enhance weapon power.
Kaito’s greatsword and Kaiser’s spear glow with light.
The two then split up to cast Sharp Edge on the other members as well.
「Thank you, Miss Emi and Miss Mew! Alright everyone, to your positions!」 Kaiser instructs.
Following Kaiser’s direction, everyone starts moving to take their assigned positions.
Kaiser, Kaito, Shuka, Takashi, Destroy, and Rayleigh form the vanguard at the front as six.
To their right and slightly behind are the five rear attackers: Isamu, Lucifer, Leon, Elena, and Cocono.
To the left and slightly behind are the three healers: Emi, Nana, and Mew.
Isamu, who specializes in one-handed swords, is in the rear rather than the vanguard because his low level means he can’t withstand even a single attack from the Dullahan.
「Alright. Is everyone ready to start?」
Kaiser asks, and everyone nods.
「Then, let’s go!」
With those words, Kaiser dashes out alone.
As he approaches within a few meters, the motionless Dullahan readies its spear.
Immediately after, the Dullahan closes the distance to Kaiser in an instant, pulls back its arm, and thrusts its spear forward.
However, Kaiser avoids it by twisting his body.
「Merciless Assault!」
He activates the spear’s fourth special technique.
He unleashes a combination of thrusts and slashes: three consecutive thrusts, left and right sweeps, and an all-out thrust.
Simultaneously, Destroy, who had been waiting patiently in the back with the other four vanguard members, kicks off the ground.
Soon after Kaiser finishes his attack motion, the Dullahan thrusts its spear at him multiple times.
This time, unable to dodge, Kaiser takes the hit from the spear’s second special technique—Quick Tilt.
The Dullahan’s special techniques and magic are set to extremely high power, and even Kaiser can’t withstand a second hit.
So, having taken damage now, Kaiser can’t afford to be hit again, but the Dullahan’s attacks come out quickly and aren’t easy to avoid.
It’s too late to cast a healing spell now.
As if to prove this, the Dullahan pulls back its arm widely towards Kaiser once more.
At that moment—
「Lethal Strike!」
Destroy, who had been running, activates the axe’s fourth special technique.
He does a high front flip, bringing down his axe on the Dullahan from above with the momentum of his fall.
Destroy then takes several backsteps to create distance.
The Dullahan ignores Kaiser in front of it and rushes towards Destroy.
「Gentle winds, gather and heal them! Heal Wind!」
「Merciful goddess, save them with your holy light! Mega Heal!」
Immediately after, Nana casts the wind’s third magic, while Emi and Mew cast light’s fourth magic to heal Kaiser.
(Oh! It’s working well!)
In the previous strategy meeting, they organized the information each person had, revealing various details such as the special techniques the Dullahan uses and the approximate damage amounts.
One of the most useful pieces of information was that 「the Dullahan targets the player who dealt the most damage in the last few seconds to tens of seconds.」
This means that by adjusting the damage output, they can control where the Dullahan directs its attacks.
That’s when Isamu and the others realized:
First, one of the vanguard members deals massive damage to draw attention.
If they take a hit, someone else deals massive damage to redirect the Dullahan’s focus to themselves.
This way, the player who initially took aggro can avoid taking a second hit.
As long as they don’t die, they can be healed and return to the front line at full health.
By repeating this, they can continue fighting stably without losing anyone.
The question was whether this strategy would actually work, but so far, things are going as imagined.
「Alright! Let’s start too!」
Isamu says, and Lucifer, Leon, Elena, and Cocono standing next to him nod.
「Flying Edge!」
「Arrow Rain!」
「Come forth from darkness, fangs of jet black! Devour those who oppose! Darkness Bite!」
「O frigid chill! Become a blue sword and slice my foes to pieces! Frigid Blade!」
「Fierce winds, gather here and rage! Whirlwind!」
The five rear members simultaneously activate their combat arts.
Various attacks like slashes and black fangs fly towards the Dullahan.
They don’t use fourth-level magic or special techniques here to deliberately keep their damage output low, preventing the Dullahan from switching targets to them.
Soon after, the attacks launched by the five successfully hit the Dullahan.
However, at the same time, Destroy also takes a hit from the Dullahan.
Immediately after–
「Fatal Charge!」
Kaito, activating the greatsword’s fourth special technique, approaches the Dullahan at tremendous speed and slashes through it.
The Dullahan then turns towards Kaito, completely ignoring Destroy.
As the three healers heal Destroy, the Dullahan remains stationary, perhaps due to the distance, and extends its hand towards Kaito.
A magic circle instantly forms at its fingertips, from which a giant fireball is launched.
It’s the fire’s third magic—Inferno Blaze.
「Damn!」
Seemingly caught off guard by the computer’s instantaneous spellcasting, Kaito fails to avoid the approaching fireball and is hit.
The Dullahan extends its hand towards Kaito once more.
「Starry Sign!」
At that moment, Shuka, who had already started running, slashes the Dullahan from behind in a five-pointed star pattern.
The Dullahan immediately turns around and pulls back its arm widely, aiming at Shuka.
Just then, a yellow five-pointed star appears on the Dullahan’s body, and it lowers its arm without doing anything.
It seems the attack motion was canceled due to Starry Sign’s follow-up attack.
Thanks to this, Shuka avoids taking damage and turns her back, running away with quick steps.
「Gentle winds, gather and heal them! Heal Wind!」
「Merciful goddess, save them with your holy light! Mega Heal!」
During this time, the three healers restore Kaito’s health.
「Flying Edge!」
「Arrow Rain!」
「Come forth from darkness, fangs of jet black! Devour those who oppose! Darkness Bite!」
「O frigid chill! Become a blue sword and slice my foes to pieces! Frigid Blade!」
「Fierce winds, gather here and rage! Whirlwind!」
The five rear members unleash attacks from a distance.
They activate the same combat arts once more, dealing damage to the Dullahan, and then—
「Ah!」
Shuka, who had been desperately evading by taking advantage of her small body, finally takes a hit.
But there’s no need to worry.
Because—
「Torment Piercing!」
Takashi, who had been waiting nearby, springs into action.
Activating the dagger’s fourth special technique, the blades in both his hands glow with rainbow light as he repeatedly stabs the Dullahan.
This technique has a 50% chance of inflicting paralysis, poison, or slow on the target upon hit.
However, whether due to bad luck or the Dullahan being immune, they didn’t manage to proc the 50% chance this time.
But that’s not a problem.
Torment Piercing is not only powerful in its effects but also high in raw damage, capable of drawing aggro.
Evidence of this is the Dullahan’s fixation on Takashi.
This ensures that Shuka won’t be targeted for attacks.
Recognizing this, Emi, Nana, and Mew heal Shuka.
Isamu and the rear guard continue to deal damage from a distance.
A short while later, Takashi also takes a hit, but—
「Fatal Charge!」
Rayleigh immediately rushes in to take aggro, allowing Takashi to escape unscathed.
(Alright!)
So far, everything is going smoothly without any issues.
At this rate, they might be able to win.
Just as Isamu starts to think this—
「Neigh!」
Suddenly, the horse rears up with a loud whinny.
Immediately after, the Dullahan riding on top extends its hand towards the sky.
A large magic circle appears high above the six vanguard members, from which an enormous fireball emerges.
It’s the fire’s fourth magic—Crimson Bullride.
「Ah…」
If the third-level techniques and magic were that powerful, even those high-level players likely can’t withstand a direct hit from this.
However, there’s not enough time left to dodge.
(Damn! Is this the end?)
「Gentle winds, gather and heal them! Heal Wind!」
Just as Isamu is about to give up, he hears the voices of two women.
Immediately after, the fireball crashes into the ground, engulfing the six vanguard members in a massive explosion.
「Whoa!」
As the explosion settles and Isamu’s vision clears, he sees the six vanguard members still standing.
Kaiser, Kaito, Shuka, Takashi, Destroy, and Rayleigh—not a single one has died.
Presumably, the area-of-effect healing magic—Heal Wind—cast by Nana and Cocono earlier reached them just before their HP hit zero.
Thanks to their quick thinking, the worst-case scenario was avoided.
However, they’re still in a pinch.
With the vanguard’s HP barely hanging on, their previous strategy is no longer viable.
Moreover, if the Dullahan uses Crimson Bullride one more time, they definitely won’t survive.
(In that case!)
「Everyone! Let’s go with Plan B!」
Isamu shouts, and everyone responds with agreement.
Plan B—a brute force plan prepared in case their strategy fails, where everyone unleashes their maximum damage output without concern for the aftermath.
If they can deplete the Dullahan’s HP with this, Isamu’s group wins; if it survives, the Dullahan wins.
「Flying Edge!」
Isamu immediately activates Flying Edge.
His body moves to swing the sword upward, and the trajectory materializes and flies forward.
The others seem to have activated their special techniques as well, with various attacks unfolding.
After a brief pause, the magic cast by the spellcasters reaches its target.
Light beams rain down from magic circles overhead, while a giant tornado emerges from a magic circle on the ground, assailing the Dullahan.
A moment later, an even larger magic circle appears on the ground.
From it, a grim reaper emerges, swinging its scythe widely with both hands.
The Dullahan, upon being hit, disappears into sparkling particles.
(Whoa!)
「Uooooooooh!!」
「We… we won…」
「Alright!」
「We did it!」
「Yeah!」
The next moment, cheers of joy erupt from all around.
<Level has increased to 29>
<Obtained 3 Life Elixirs>
<Obtained 3 Magic Elixirs>
<Obtained 3 EXP Potions>
Soon after, system messages appear before their eyes.
「Oh, what’s this?」
「We got something!」
「I hope it’s good items!」
Everyone, setting aside their victory celebration for the moment, starts operating their menu windows.
Drawn in by this, Isamu also decides to check the details of the items he received.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
[Life Elixir]
Category: Consumable
Description: Fully restores HP
[Magic Elixir]
Category: Consumable
Description: Fully restores MP
[EXP Potion]
Category: Consumable
Description: For one hour after use, experience points gained from monster battles are doubled
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
(Hmm, well…)
While not flashy, these are all certainly useful and attractive items.
However, having fully expected to receive powerful weapons or equipment, Isamu feels somewhat conflicted.
「Eh? Consumables?」
「Not bad, but…」
「I wanted a weapon…」
「Yeah…」
It seems the others received the same items, and they all look somewhat disappointed.
Amidst this, Lucifer clears his throat deliberately, drawing everyone’s attention before speaking.
「Everyone, you all did exceptionally well tonight! Thanks to all of you, we were able to achieve our goal. I thank you once again!」
「Ah, thank you very much!」
「Thanks! You’re all the best!」
Destroy and Rayleigh follow Lucifer’s lead.
These words bring smiles to Isamu’s face, as well as everyone else’s.
They return the thanks to Lucifer and the others, and once that settles down—
「Very well! Now, let us hold a celebration for the Dullahan’s defeat at our Dark Demon Castle!」
Lucifer announces, spreading his arms wide.
At that moment, everyone except the Dark Faith members and Isamu freezes.
「Huh? We’re going to that dark room again…?」
「The Dark Demon Castle sounds scary, I don’t want to go…」
「Being there kind of brings me down…」
「W-well, I like Lucifer and the others, but that guild home is a bit…」
Such conversations can be heard in whispers from various directions.
「Hm? What’s wrong, everyone?」 Lucifer inquires.
「Ah, it’s nothing!」
Elena answers, waving both hands.
「I see. Then, let us head there at once! Everyone, follow me!」
Saying this, Lucifer turns his back and starts walking.
The others follow him with sighs, trudging along.
And so, Isamu’s group, having moved to the Dark Demon Castle, praise each other’s efforts and exchange friend registrations.
Isamu watches over this scene with a big smile on his face.
Sub29: My Thoughts on ‘Tutorial Guy’ as the Series Nears Its End
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