"Gulp…"
Professor Deina of the Magic Department gasped while watching the scene unravel before her eyes.
Let alone historians and guardians, everyone regardless of gender and age would have imagined something like this if they had read about the great legends and the myths of the old times.
Unique Grades.
What would happen if the historical legends – those immeasurable monsters – were to fight against each other?
❰Combination Spell – Snow Flower❱
❰ᚦᚠ – Thurisaz Fehu❱
The absolute zero coldness that threatened to freeze everything in existence was swallowed by the exploding heat of mana.
Their mana output was in a whole different league.
Their fight was beyond the realms of human comprehension.
Even though the two Unique Grade demons were casually using these spells as if it was nothing, those spells were like a tempest of destruction.
If not for the
Professor Deina was shocked by how each of their spells were powerful enough to easily destroy an entire floor of this building, and was relieved by the fact that it wasn't leaving the Realm.
That was Unique Grade.
The legendary great demon, King of Iron Mountain.
Elder-rank vampire, Marie Dunareff.
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛————–!!
The monster charged forward. The four-legged beast weighing 60 tonnes left an afterimage behind its path as it marched towards its enemy with gleaming fangs.
Even though it had simply kicked off the ground, the resulting gust was destructive in itself.
❰Multi-Shield: Blood Snow Barrier Fortress❱
The original combination spell, Multi-Shield, which was formed by freezing moisture, was supplemented with the blood of a vampire. It was truly as tough as a fortress but it wasn't enough to stop the demonic boar.
– Kwaaaaaaaaang!!
One strike made the Blood Snow Barrier Fortress crumble to pieces. Even after destroying those tough fortress walls, the demon boar did not stop advancing forward.
"Uhk…!"
It seemed that even the girl with water-colored hair wasn't expecting the monster to break through one of her strongest defense skills this easily, and gave a frown.
"…!!"
Right as the boar was about to collide with her, Marie's body vanished from sight.
"…"
Using its insane dynamic vision, the demon boar's gaze chased after her body and realized that it was a crimson dog that moved its foe away from its path.
"Doggo?"
'What about the outside?' Before asking that question, Marie instinctively looked outside and noticed that the laboratory was being splendidly burned down.
"Korin's finally here."
There was something Korin had requested of her while explaining his plan.
It was to feed a thousand pebbles and stones to the demonic beasts of the laboratory. Of course, those weren't normal pebbles and they were stones that had the rune letter, 'Kenaz' engraved on them.
The plan was to feed those stones to the demonic beasts under the pretext that it was safer for her to feed them, and use Resonant Rune Activation to kill them all at once.
This disastrous scene of the burning laboratory was the result of that plan.
Higher-level demonic beasts like Grade 2 and semi-Grade 1 were able to withstand the attack somehow, but lower-grade demonic beasts were immediately scorched to death by the flames rising up from their innards.
That meant that most of the monsters outside that were keeping everyone busy had been dealt with.
"Krrhh…!"
At a corner of the Blood Realm, Doggo dropped Marie back down on the ground. Watching from outside the barrier next to them was Korin.
"Korin!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Senior."
"I did my best!"
"Everything became a lot easier thanks to your help. Can you open this for us?"
Only Marie and her familiar were able to enter and exit out of the Blood Realm. That was common sense but there was an exception.
"You can just come in, Korin."
"Hnn?"
In response, Korin reached forward with his hand as it easily passed through the barrier made of blood.
"You're right."
"You are always welcome, Korin!"
"Ohh~"
Korin walked back and forth out of the Blood Realm as if it was an interesting experience, but he soon stopped and opened his mouth.
"Can you still remove this for us though? Because we need to kill that guy."
"Okay!"
Marie removed the Blood Realm in an instant without any hesitation.
That was when the heavy thud of something falling down quaked the entire laboratory.
– Kuwwoooooo…!
The large body of the King Tyrant fell on the ground with a remorseful roar. Standing on that body and declaring its victory was an enormous golem.
"N, nice! We did it!"
"Defeating a Grade 1 demonic beast as two people… We got lucky!"
One by one, the named characters gathered together.
Golem Mage, Kranel Luden.
Druid of the Avelorn Forest, Yuel.
Mercenary of Flying Swords, Dorron Warsky.
Domain Wielder, Alicia Arden.
Unique Grade Vampire, Marie Dunareff.
The party was far beyond being simply good and was even extravagant, but they were still unsure of victory because the enemy was a great monster that befit its notorious fame.
And besides…
– Grrhh…
– Kiyaaa—–
The stronger demonic beasts that survived through Korin's Resonant Rune Activation slowly gathered to form an army.
Those monsters that should have been fighting recklessly without any order or cooperation had gathered under the single flag of a Unique Grade. They were about 30 in numbers.
Fighting against 30 Grade 2 monsters at once was already a tough task and yet behind them, there was even the Unique Grade demonic boar.
"Krrrh…!"
A short howl echoed from the boar followed by Marie's immediate shout.
"Everyone, scatter!"
Everyone reacted fast. Both knights and mages instinctively sensed danger and retreated. The only ones that did not listen to her advice – the demonic beasts – were caught up by the relentless march of the boar.
– Kaduduk!
– Pabak!
A tyrant.
The charge of the sole king that destroyed everything it touched like the blades of a blender had no regard for allies.
Its march that ripped everything into shreds without caring about the demonic beasts under its path reminded one of the poem from 80 years ago that was sung by a bard describing the tyrant.
King of Iron Mountain requires no minion.
Before him there can be no safe bastion,
For the king has no mercy for you all.
Run, o foolish mortals. We cannot stall.
Here comes the tyrant to devour them all.
"Luden Warrior!"
In order to fight against the enormous boar that was charging in a straight line, the Junk Golem started dashing forward.
"You idiot. You can't go head-to-head against that!"
Korin's shout was buried under the crushing footsteps of the golem.
The siege golem had proven its strength by defeating the King Tyrant. Its destructiveness was marvelous, even more so after receiving the enhancement of a druid.
Even a Unique Grade shouldn't be unscathed after being kicked by this giant from the front.
⟪Forced Explosion of Elemental Core x 7: Flying Knee Kick⟫
"GOOOOOO!!"
The powerful kick was made by sacrificing most of the elemental cores that were left behind in its body. Even a Unique Grade demon boar would get injured if it received such an attack to its skull!
– Kajik!
The marching demon boar collided against the leg of the golem. The result was very obvious.
– Pang!
The leg of the Junk Golem, which was made by combining the remains of golems that weighed tens of tonnes, crumbled in an instant. Like a balloon, it popped and vanished when it reached the boar.
"This can't be…!"
Kranel and Yuel were greatly astonished. They probably weren't expecting the strongest knee kick under Yuel's greatest support to be crushed this easily.
"Kranel, hold onto it as much as you can! You need to last 30 seconds at least! Go!!"
"Eeeek…!"
He hurriedly started moving the Junk Golem. Holding onto the demon boar that did not even slow down after destroying one of the golem's legs, he tried his hardest to slow down the monster.
"Yuel! Grow your plants! You must hold it back somehow!"
"You make it sound easy!"
Despite shouting back, Yuel followed the order given by the party leader. She wrote an Ogham letter through her staff. Using the profound abilities of a druid, she grew plants from the literal bottom pits of nature.
"Dorron! Attack the sides! Don't use the magnetic and the heavy iron sword! Focus all your mana on the lightning and fire spirit swords and go as fancy as you can to grab its attention!"
"Those two swords require a lot of mana. I won't even last 3 minutes if I use them in full scale. Is that still okay?"
"It doesn't matter. That's all you need to do. Explode your swords at the end if you need to. The important thing is to deal as much damage as possible using your magic swords."
"What a cold thing to say, Boss."
He grumbled but still followed Korin's command, because Korin had never given a wrong order as a party leader.
A strategist that raises the best and safest options in a timely manner – there was no reason for him to disobey as a mercenary.
– Kwaaaang!
Large plants shot out of the ground. The huge bean sprouts that were amplified by the secret skills of a druid reached out at the demon boar in order to stop the giant monster.
After losing both of its legs, the Junk Golem clinged onto the boar using its arms and its weight. Thanks to that, the demonic boar had been slowed down a fair bit.
– Duruk! Creak!
– Rip! Kajik!
However, the boar was still moving forward. The golem weighing tens of tonnes was being dragged along the ground, while the huge vines were being ripped without being able to stop the monster in its tracks.
"…Are you serious?"
"How is this even possible…"
This was a Unique Grade. A monster that couldn't be measured by human standards.
Something incredibly different from people.
"It's going to use it soon," muttered Korin.
『Primal Rune – ó』
That was when the hairs of the boar turned red.
"Huh?"
"W, wait? What?"
The demon boar simply walked out ignoring the plants and the golem that were holding onto its legs. As if they weren't fully wrapped around in the first place, it naturally walked out.
"Dorron!"
"I know!"
The mercenary's swords started to dance.
The sword of fire and the sword of lightning. Those weapons had been upgraded into having the best Grade 1 magic stones that he received as reward from the Academy after Marie Dunareff's incident.
His swords were truly remarkable. Bolts of lightning danced around with tall flames to sear both sides of the boar.
『Primal Rune – ó』
This time, the hairs of the monster started turning into blue. The swords of flame and lightning reached the demonic boar after its hairs finished turning blue.
"What?"
Dorron felt nothing. Although he was flying the swords around with telekinesis, he was the one controlling them. He should be feeling some type of collision if they were to come into contact with something.
However, he didn't feel anything just then as if he had slashed through thin air.
"Korin!"
"Yes, I know. Send Doggo forward."
Only Marie, who had been fighting against the King of Iron Mountain until now, was able to understand what was going on.
"Doggo!"
The familiar of blood heeded to the call of its owner and marched forward. Its destructive vigor was by no means less than that of the large monster.
– Kung!
Relying on pure speed, the blood dog pounced forward. After being hit by the dog that was even faster than the speed of sound, the demon boar's body wobbled for the first time.
"Krrh…!"
"It worked?!"
The party members cheered out loud, thinking that they had finally managed to land a meaningful strike.
The Primal Rune that was swallowed by the demon boar – the statement that 'Paradise exists' and the power that stemmed from it was like a play on words.
"In order to kill the King of Iron Mountain, there needs to be both physical and magic attacks. It's quite a common pattern."
Prime.
The 8 letters required to head into Paradise.
As something that existed but not anymore, the Paradise gave out incomplete notions of power. In the case of the demon boar, the notion was that Paradise existed. This concept was realized in
Red hair gave complete resistance to physical attacks.
Blue hair gave complete resistance to magic attacks.
And the gold hair, its final resort was…
"Kranel and Yuel. Try your best to hold it back as much as you can. If it slips out of your grip, do it again. Dorron, attack from medium-range. Alicia and I will be waiting for our turn at the back."
"Korin, what about me?" Marie asked.
"Leave all the attacks to Doggo. Wait until I give you other orders."
"Okay!"
"Everyone. Do not worry about what comes next. This is a fight for our lives and the result will be decided shortly. Pour out everything you have and we will win."
All the guardians present were lost for words. They were shocked to see someone who was sure of victory even in the face of a legendary opponent with such absurd abilities.
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛————–!!
A roar that seemed to be knocking on the world sonorously echoed across the building as the large body of the King of Iron Mountain started to move again.
——–!!
Following its shout was another simple charge, but there was no-one here who did not know of how destructive and powerful its attack was.
"Yuel! Kranel!"
The Junk Golem with no legs and the half-crushed large plants pounced at the monster. Rather than an attack, it was closer to a grappling move.
"!!!"
Those annoying things started to slow it down again, so the demon boar immediately changed its hairs to red.
"Uhht?!"
"It ran away!"
As soon as the hairs changed its color, the arms of the golem and the plants ended up slipping out as if they couldn't even come into contact with the demon boar.
"Dorron."
The lightning spirit sword and the fire spirit sword started to dance and struck down at its sides as if it had been waiting.
Due to the magic stones inside and Dorron's skills, the flames and lightning bolts of these swords were on a similar level to the high-grade spells of mages.
However, the boar started turning its hairs to blue and escaped from his attacks again. That was when…
"Gyaaooo!!"
It was the same pattern as before – Doggo threw its body at a rapid speed and marched in at the side of the demon boar as soon as it started changing its hairs to blue.
– Kung!
The power behind the attack was enough to send its onlookers shivering but Doggo realized that something was different after marching at it.
"…?!"
The color of the hairs hadn't changed – the monster had stopped changing the color of its hair in the middle, and they were still red.
A feint.
Showing its change to the magic-resistant blue hairs was a trick to attract Doggo, who was proving to be the most threatening foe.
– Smirk.
The old and great monster of the past gazed down at the young beast. At the same time, its fangs gleamed in gold.
❰ᚦᚠ – Thurisaz Fehu❱
– Kwang!
Those runes destroyed everything nearby and that destructive light sent Doggo flying.
"Doggo!"
"Senior. Retrieve your familiar. Use Blood Spear."
"…"
Marie regained her temper after hearing Korin call her from the side. She retrieved Doggo who was starting to lose his shape after being crushed.
It was possible to resummon him after sufficiently replenishing blood and mana but she didn't have enough blood to do that right now.
❰Blood Spear❱
She created dozens of Blood Spears in the air. After being amplified by her specialty, those spears were several times stronger than normal medium-grade spells.
"Blow it away!"
Without even bothering to dodge the attack, the demon boar dashed into the tempest of spears.
Its hairs turned blue. Despite ignoring Dorron's swords like it was nothing, the boar used its Primal Rune to fight against Marie's attacks. Its first priority now was Marie Dunareff.
– Kagagang!
The spears began to break immediately upon contact with the boar without leaving a single wound on its body. The boar and Marie were now less than 10 meters apart.
Marie still had more than enough mana. She could continue pouring out newly-created Blood Spears for hours without an end. The only issue was that the enemy wasn't keen on giving her the time to use all her mana.
"Let's do this."
– Thud!
The spearman kicked off the ground, making everyone doubt their eyes. No-one was expecting there to be a fool who would charge back at the march of the demon boar.
He jumped into the air, but was still in the path of the boar. In the middle of the air, in a situation where he might lose his body without even having the time to land back down on the ground, he bent his back like a bowstring and…
❰Crumbling Mountain: Secret Arts ❱
❰One Strike One Shot: Thunderous Strike❱
He used the strongest ability of a spearman.
"...?!!"
The demon boar that was holding off against Marie's magic bombardment with its blue Primal Rune was flustered by the unexpected yet destructive attack.
That single strike was even stronger than the bombardment used by a Unique Grade mage. Seeing that incoming spear, the demon boar immediately realized that the attack had the power to leave a massive wound on its body.
Did it have to change to red hair? As the boar quickly accelerated its thoughts, it spotted the vampire pointing the staff at its body in its slow perception of the world.
Mana was gathering at the tip of the staff.
Even though she was already creating tens and hundreds of Blood Spears, she was casting another spell on top which was in a different league to what she had used thus far.
The boar immediately noticed what their plan was. As soon as it changed its hairs to red in order to avoid the tossed spear, it would be swallowed by that massive spell. It was bound to receive a large amount of damage no matter what happened.
『Primal Rune – ó』
What would the monster choose?
What did it choose to allow, and what did it choose to resist?
"Huh…?"
The first one to let out a stupified gasp was Kranel, who had been controlling the golem. He was appalled after seeing the change that started from the butt of the demon boar. After him were Dorron and Yuel, who were likewise flustered upon seeing the new color of the boar.
"...Gold?"
Right.
Gold.
Covering the lofty King of Iron Mountain was neither blue nor red, but was the lustrous sheen of gold.
– Kang!
The spear bounced off. Unable to do any damage, the silver spear powerlessly bounced off the body of the boar, and the same was with the countless Blood Spears that were being poured on the monster.
Golden hair.
Its ability was purely absurd – complete resistance to both Physical and Magic damage.
The king grinned.
Satisfied, it contorted its lips. As always, the battle was decided by the last resort that it had been hiding from everyone's sight – the ability that made it invincible for 5 minutes.
No-one was able to fight against the king in front of this power.
"Alicia."
But the king's vanity lasted only a second.
Next to where the spearman landed – 10 steps in front of the boar – was a swordsman with bent knees and a lowered head.
Amidst the confusion of the laboratory caused by everything being crushed, destroyed and crumbled was a swordsman keeping her calm like the tranquil ocean.
The king looked at her.
They were only 10 meters away. It would take 0.5 seconds for its current unstoppable march to reach her; another 0.5 seconds for its fangs to penetrate through her stomach, and 0.5 more seconds for it to be trampled on the ground after being shredded into pieces in the air.
Overall, it should take less than 1.5 seconds.
The opponent was just a feeble and tiny human that should be gone in less than 1.5 seconds. That should be it but if so… why was the swordsman making the king feel this uneasy and vigilant?
The king's instincts and its speed were incomparably fast,
But its judgment and its change of plans were slow.
❰Singular Sword of Arden—
Facing off against the boar that was hundreds of times heavier than herself, the girl unsheathed the Demon-Slaying Sword.
—Domain Severance.❱
Sheek. The sword cleaved the dimension.
As the colossal body of the boar came crashing down.
****
The boar fell while splattering its blood everywhere.
I was probably the only one who saw what happened in that short decisive moment. Everyone who hadn't been able to see her entry to the Domain and her slash inside the Domain doubted the scene before their eyes.
Alicia herself was barely holding onto her sword with her shivering right arm. That was probably the strongest strike she had ever pulled off in her entire life.
"Uhhh…"
I supported Alicia who was about to powerlessly fall to the side. It was very commendable that she was still holding onto the sword despite her condition.
"I, is it dead?"
Alicia asked me to confirm whether she had been able to deal the final blow to the monster or not.
"Not yet."
She sent an astonished gaze at the fallen beast. Even after being hit by her strongest attack, the demon boar was still alive.
Golden hair.
The last phase of King of Iron Mountain, the demonic boar of the Dingle Peninsula, was where the final boss became invincible for 5 minutes.
It was truly a disgusting mechanic but there existed a secret way around this phase.
And that was none other than Domain Severance.
Domain Severance was like a killing move in a suspended world, but it had another effect in the game.
100% Physical and Magic Penetration.
The reason why Alicia Arden was the strongest counter to all the boss characters who loved having a bunch of physical or magic resistances was simple.
There was nothing in the world that could block her sword strike when she was staring into the gap between dimensions through her Eyes of the Boundary.
The normal way to go through that last phase was by running around for 5 minutes from that demon boar but Alicia could defeat it in one strike.
Her strongest attack as a result of the combination of the Domain and the Eyes of the Boundary were exceptionally overpowered. There was a reason why she was called the True Alicia after her scenario quest.
"As expected, one well-nurtured Alicia… is way better than 10 people~"
"W, what are you talking about?! More importantly, is it okay to leave that monster like that? Isn't it going to run around again?"
Even after being slashed by Alicia's secret move, the boar was still alive. That was natural considering the sheer amount of HP it had.
"No. It's about time for Lady Josephine to get to work."
– Swish!
It was then. As soon as I finished saying that, a grandiose magic circle appeared at the ceiling.
"W, what is that?"
"That's the repaired version of the broken grand magic circle…"
I had asked Lady Josephine to repair the grand magic circle of the laboratory while we were stopping the boar. That was the normal approach to the boss fight back in the game as well.
"She finished repairing it that fast?"
Everyone seemed surprised by the works of the great witch, but this wasn't the end just yet.
"The golden hair pattern is a strong ability, but it can't use the Primal Rune again for some time after that's over."
In other words, now was the only chance to kill the demonic boar. It was very rare to even get a chance to kill someone or something that contained a Primal Rune.
We would gang up against the monster together in the original game to barely beat it but… we had a Unique Grade mage in our hands.
"Senior Marie."
"I'm ready."
Marie started using her grand spells against the demon boar that was powerlessly being pushed down by the magic circle of suppression.
The spell of pure destruction of a Unique Grade vampire was exceptional. Several members of our party that recognized the intensity of her attack immediately retreated to the stairs in a hurry.
"Professor Josephine! I leave this building in your hands! It's all you!"
[…Damn it.]
A rare profanity left the mouth of Lady Josephine. After gathering all the energy inside the laboratory that came from the leylines, the great mage started using her spell and—
"Goodbye."
❰Grand Magic of Blood – Pure Crimson Spear❱
The spear of the strongest output that she had been building over time struck down to kill the King of Iron Mountain.
The nightmare from 80 years ago.
The Killer of Heroes.
During the last moments of the demonic boar of the Dingle Peninsula…
The spearman did not miss the Primal light that shot out of the crumbling body of the monster.
****
– Kugugung!
The empty plot of land behind the laboratory – that barren land with no passersby – echoed with the sound of a mechanism as a path appeared out of nowhere.
A man was walking out of that secret passage which should only be known by two people of the Academy.
In his hand was a well-polished magic stone. The letter engraved on that was the Primal Rune [ó], the rune swallowed by the demon boar which was the root cause of this incident.
Primal Rune.
The eight letters leading to the Paradise.
They were the remnants of the divine ages of gods in the past that could not be broken by anything in the world, but it was possible for the 'rune stones' that served as the shell to break at times.
88 years ago, that rune stone had been swallowed by one of the boars of the Dingle Peninsula. Because it just happened to give semi-immortality to its owner, no-one had been able to take it out of the monster until now.
But today, the unsealed demon boar was subjugated and the rune stone in its body ended up breaking.
Where would the Primal Rune go after losing its shell?
The answer was simple. After roaming the air and finding the closest rune stone, it would land inside it, and the closest rune stone this time was the one being held by the man who was hiding nearby.
He had finally achieved his goal.
It was a joyous event after 10 years of hard work, which he had been aiming for ever since he first infiltrated into this Academy following the command of his master.
– Has everyone evacuated from the building?
– There are still some monsters coming out of the entrance! Kill them!
– Don't let any of them come out!
Everyone was focused on the entrance of the building, which was on the complete opposite side of the empty plot of land. The man simply had to leave this secret passage and leave both the Academy and the city.
"That wasn't very difficult."
The monster had been defeated with more ease than he expected considering its fame as the King of Iron Mountain, but that made sense because it had been sealed for over 80 years.
The man with afro-hair walked out of the opened doors of the secret passage out of the laboratory, and walked onto the empty plot of land behind the building.
For some unknown reason, at the center of the land were traces of a campfire and… a log chair which was being occupied by a man.
The man sitting on the chair was a famous freshman who was known by everyone in the Academy – the Grade 5 Knight whom he had intentionally sent outside the city during this time.
Surrounded by a cold and sharp breeze, the man gazed back with a wild sneer on his face.
Korin Lork.
Grade 5 Knight.
An irregular who defeated the Unique Grade vampire Marie Dunareff, as well as the great demon, King of Iron Mountain.
"How is my Senior Brother Valtazar doing? My dear nephew Fermack?"
He greeted the long-awaited 'King's Subject', Fermack Daman.