Junior's ultimate magic [Elemental Disassembly] struck the Troll King.
It reduced the monster's magical defense to negative numbers. Now, it would take true damage plus additional damage from all magical attacks.
'[Elemental Disassembly] lasts for about 10 minutes.'
In game terms, that's 3 turns.
I have to settle this within that time frame...!
Organizing my thoughts, I shouted.
"Lucas! Evangeline! Go!"
Lucas and Evangeline, who had been waiting, gripped their weapons and lunged forward.
A longsword made of otherworldly silver and a lance blade attached to a cavalry lance emitted an eerie metallic gleam.
Standing behind those two knights, I emphasized,
"Drive your weapons in as deep as possible and then retreat!"
"Roger!"
"I wish these additional enhancements were permanent!"
The two knights charged like a gust of wind, splitting to each side of the Troll King.
Clang!
Thud!
They struck simultaneously with perfect timing.
As Lucas's longsword emitted a dazzling array of lights and executed [Strike of Will], the Troll King's thick hide was instantly torn.
At that moment, Evangeline's cavalry lance burrowed roughly into it.
"Let's burn it all down!"
As Evangeline roared, a spirit scattering red light along the lance's surface ignited flames.
The spirit on the lance was Ifrit.
Boom!
With a colossal explosion, the lance pierced through the Troll King's back entirely.
Clink!
Simultaneously, Evangeline detached the lance blade attached to her lance.
She left only the blade stuck in the monster's belly and tumbled back like a flying squirrel.
"Argh!"
The Troll King screamed in rage, an agonizing moan escaping from its pierced belly.
It tried to nonchalantly pull out the lance blade with its hands, but--
"That's not happening."
Seizing the moment, Lucas rushed in from the side.
The Troll King's hands were together in front of it, trying to pull out the lance blade.
Thump!
Lucas's longsword forcefully punctured and stuck through both of the Troll King's wrists.
"Grr?!"
The Troll King let out a bewildered groan.
With a lance blade in its belly and a longsword through its wrists like handcuffs, it tried to twist its body to remove the longsword. But the sword in its wrists hindered its movement—struggling pathetically was all it could do.
"Mission complete!"
"We did as instructed, senior!"
Retreating to their positions, Lucas and Evangeline shouted. I lifted my hand high.
"Burnout! Lilly! Now! Fire everything!"
Almost simultaneously with my cry, the frontline fortress walls flashed,
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Boom-boom-boom!
A barrage rained down.
Hundreds of arrows imbued with explosive attributes showered like a downpour. At the same time, the attack-type artifacts installed on the walls unleashed attacks in unison.
These were N~R grade attack-capable artifacts that couldn't be installed on Crossroad's walls, so we had them all here at this forward base.
As hundreds of arrows, with their tips blazing in crimson, and over a hundred artifacts unleashed their attacks all at once, the sight was rather magnificent.
Simultaneously, I shouted,
"If you have a means of magical attack, unload it all!"
Before my words even ended, Dusk Bringar let out another Dragon Breath.
Godhand conjured lances filled with magical power, and Bodyback hurled them with precision.
Our allies unleashed every magical attribute attack they had, and its power was,
Whoosh-boom-boom!
Absolutely overwhelming.
A giant column of fire soared, and a terrible storm of magical power raged along with a tremendous heat.
Evangeline, who had quickly run up to protect me, raised her shield.
"Wouldn't this much be overkill?!"
"No, that won't be the case."
I'd be grateful if it could just die, but--
Even after focusing on magic attacks and depleting its magic defense, the Troll King had a ridiculous amount of base HP. And it was regenerating even as we fought.
It's not like all of our attacks landed at the same time, so a one-turn-kill was realistically difficult.
As expected.
Kwaduduk, kwajik--
In the midst of a horrifying storm of magical power, the Troll King moved, its flesh burning and regenerating.
"Kyahat!"
Chaenggang!
The scene of the beast pulling out the holy longsword that had been skewering its wrist came into view.
Blood vaporized in the intense heat, flying in all directions as the beast grasped the spear blade lodged in its chest.
-Now's the time.
"When I give the signal, everyone stop attacking at once, simultaneously!"
I shouted as I slowly raised my hand.
"Damien! And Saintess! Heal the beast with all you've got!"
Behind me, Margarita gulped as she cast healing magic. I trust Damien is getting ready on his own!
Chulguruk, chulguruk...!
Pook-!
The moment the Troll King pulled out the holy spear blade from its chest.
"Now!"
I yelled, swinging my arm down sharply.
Flash!
A bright white beam of light shot from the wall and pierced the Troll King's chest.
Damien's max-power healing magic bullet.
Combining the five healing magic bullets he could create in a day into one, then enhancing its healing power by injecting all the remaining magic power, he sniped!
Simultaneously,
Woo-woong!
Margarita's level 2 skill, the area healing platform [Call of Sanctuary], unfolded.
The area under the Troll King glowed brightly, granting substantial health regeneration buffs to everyone standing in the zone.
Hwaack!
Immediately after, Margarita activated her passive skill [Grace of the Goddess], converting her remaining divine power into healing magic and unleashed it all on the Troll King.
This isn't the end!
"Extra bloody service!"
I hurled all the stored healing potions from my inventory without holding back.
"All top-tier healing potions!"
Chaengrang! Chaengrang-!
"...Kyah?"
Confused by the healing magic bullet, healing spells, and a barrage of potions, the Troll King looked utterly lost.
It was probably the first time she'd faced a situation like this, so her confusion was understandable.
'Alright, monster. Let me break down your situation for you.'
First, we lodged holy weapons into your body.
These holy weapons were forged to kill vampires, enhanced with cursed wood to maximize the healing reduction effect.
'While these weapons are embedded in your body, your natural regenerative abilities are suppressed.'
Of course, even with the suppression, your health regeneration is so ridiculous that we can't actually kill you.
Just like building a mud dam in a large river can't completely stop the water flow.
But the mud dam can regulate the flow to some extent. That's the role of these holy weapons.
At this point, we use [Elemental Disassembly] to lower your magical defense to the negatives and maximize magical damage.
Until your body is damaged to its limits. Until your body is struggling to regenerate.
And then, you pull out the holy weapons from your body. The healing reduction effect is lifted, and your regeneration suddenly returns to its normal levels.
-The mud dam breaks.
At the same time, we pour all the healing magic and recovery methods we have onto you.
-A deluge ensues.
The 'regenerative abilities,' like a river, swell from the sudden downpour and the breaking of the dam, going completely out of control.
The overflowing river water devours everything downstream.
'In the game, it was just a simple change in the regeneration buff numbers.'
But this was reality.
In a short time, the regeneration rate had plummeted, then surged past its maximum limit and ran amok, swallowing up the body whole.
Crunch, squelch...
The flesh and bones of the Troll King, which had been damaged and then recovered, did more than just regain their original shape... they 'overflowed.'
"Keh, keh-heuk...?!"
For the first time, a pained scream escaped from the Troll King's mouth.
Squelch, crack, crunch!
A horrifying sound filled the area.
The sound of flesh swelling, the sound of bones growing and misaligning.
Hundreds of strands of muscle erupted from the body like protruding ropes, and the skeleton expanded, tearing through the flesh and erupting from all over the body.
The runaway regeneration was indiscriminate, forcing even unnecessary parts to regenerate and grow.
"Keh, keeaaaah-?!"
At the end of its agonizing scream.
Crunch, crrrrunch! Poooof!
Having forcibly crossed the limits of regeneration allowed for mortals, the Troll King had become a grotesque, enormous mound of flesh.
I looked at the continually expanding thing and clicked my tongue briefly.
"This has turned really gruesome."
"Keh, keh-heuk, keh-heh-heuk...!"
It continued to swell, and simultaneously, it crumbled.
It no longer even resembled a troll. It was closer to an Abomination or a rag-golem.
"Ugh, my stomach feels queasy..."
Evangeline gagged.
Even without saying it, everyone looked sick. Though we had fought on the front lines and grown accustomed to blood and corpses, the scene before us was clearly a bit too gory.
But the one who had made my enemy this way was me.
Facing my enemy without avoidance, I muttered.
"Who knows what would have happened if we leave it alone any longer."
The body could keep expanding, or it could have actually started moving like a true rag-golem. We need to end it before any other variables came into play.
"Keh, haaak...!"
"..."
And, whether the opponent is a monster or not, it's not like I enjoy watching it squirm in pain.
Let's put it out of its misery.
"Prepare to incinerate it immediately. All troops! Ready the fire weapons!"
The soldiers who had been waiting on the ramparts reloaded their cannons and ballistae.
It had already lost its defenses. The excessive regeneration had caused abnormal growth, but its body couldn't withstand that regeneration and was collapsing.
Regeneration and collapse had been repeated to the point where the extremities of the body were collapsing faster than they could regenerate.
We could finish this.
"Fire!"
I stretched out my hand and shouted.
"Unleash the firepower! All of it!"
Boom! Boom! Thud-thud-thud!
Projectiles and arrows flew from the ramparts and pierced the monster's body.
Kwoooom!
Immediately after, a series of explosions and flames filled the area.
***
The monster wasn't dead.
Even after being torn apart by our concentrated bombardment, even as its massive swollen body was burning and shrinking, it continued to struggle.
It was still moving north.
Into human territory.
To annihilate humanity.
"Kyaha, heh, kehat...!"
With not a single part of its body intact, the Troll King continued to crawl.
With a boiling voice, for the first time, it uttered words.
They were simple.
"Human... kill... all..."
"..."
"World... burn... all..."
What for?
What was it that drove them to despise humanity to this extent?
As the Troll King crawled all the way to my feet, I pulled the pistol 'Agate' from my coat and,
Bang!
Bang! Bang-!
Planted bullets in its head.
The Troll King stopped moving. It was over.
"Phew."
I took a brief breath and turned around.
The heroes and soldiers appeared dazed and confused. Maybe it was because they'd never encountered such an opponent before; their faces showed that they didn't know what to do.
This is when I need to go a little overboard.
"We've won!"
I raised my arms high and shouted.
"We've proven it again today! No matter what monster comes at us, we can fend it off!"
A familiar light returned to the eyes of my subordinates, replacing the previous despair.
The joy of victory.
Yes.
I hope you all can always live embracing just that joy.
"Heroes who saved the world once again today!"
I grinned and shouted again.
"Let's go home!"
***
[STAGE 13 - CLEAR!]
[STAGE MVP - Jupiter Junior(SSR)]
[Leveled-up Characters]
>Main Party
- Ash(EX) Lv.50 (↑1) (You can advance to the third job!)
- Jupiter Junior(SSR) Lv.58 (↑1)
>Sub Party 1
- Kuilan(SR) Lv.52 (↑1)
- Tuesday(R) Lv.46 (↑1)
- Wednesday(R) Lv.46 (↑1)
- Baki(R) Lv.46 (↑1)
- OnTheRock(R) Lv.44 (↑1)
>Sub Party 2
- GodHand(SR) Lv.48 (↑1)
- BodyBag(R) Lv.43 (↑1)
- Burnout(SR) Lv.43 (↑2)
- Lilly(R) Lv.38 (↑1)
- Margarita(R) Lv.42 (↑2)
[Characters who are Dead or Injured]
- None
[Acquired Items]
- Troll Legion Fluid: 411
- Troll Legion Magic Stone: 179
- Troll Royal Guard Magic Core(R): 10
- Troll Sorcerer Magic Core(SR): 2
- Troll King Magic Core(SSR): 1
[Rewards for clearing the stage have been distributed. Please check your inventory.]
- Summon Scroll: Troll King
- R-grade Reward Box: 5
- SR-grade Reward Box: 2
>> Get Ready For The Next STAGE
>> [STAGE 14: Bestowed Sword]