Chapter 11 : Boss Golem and Co-op Play


“Toryaaaa!!”

I swung my staff in full force at the golem’s weak point, its core, and pulverized it in one hit.
As though they were aiming at the interval in which I would land, the goblins and other golems closed in towards me, but that wasn’t a problem.

“«Escape Aura»”

Cocoa-chan activated her support magic and a blue-ish aura wrapped around my body.
The «Holy Crest» was a necklace with the cross, an equipment that could only be used by someone who was a «Priest». Once activated, it would cast support magic, buffing the ally you were facing.

Upon receiving the AGI raising support magic, the world around me accelerated.
I dashed through the plains at a speed that left the goblins and golems behind in the dust. As we crossed paths again, I struck them down.

“Alright, victory!!”

Pakiin!! The nearby monsters all turned into polygons simultaneously and was reduced to experience points for us. With that display in the background, I held my staff up and made a victory pose.
There, Cocoa-chan walks up towards me while applauding along the way.

“Good work, Bell. The golems and goblins were all thoroughly done in with 1 hit too…… As expected, or rather, I don’t know what I should even say at this point.”

“Ahaha, though without Cocoa-chan’s support, I wouldn’t have been able to move in such a way, so thanks for that.”

My basic strategy at first was…… I’d read through each and every movement to dodge their attacks, then counter by striking with my staff. However, with Cocoa-chan backing me up and increasing my AGI, it was a lot easier since I could just directly bring them down without having to wait for my turn. Because we formed a party, the experience points I received were halved, but I think this was better in terms of efficiency than when I was alone.

Yep, 2 heads are better than 1 after all!

“N-not at all…… I’m just doing what was considered normal anyways.”

Cocoa-chan’s ears flop around happily as she shyly turned away.
She sure is cute…… It soothes me just looking at her.
Make no mistake, Shizuku was the cutest in the world, but yeah, Cocoa-chan might come as a close 2nd.

“Now then, let’s keep up this rhythm and topple the boss golem that’s ahead!”

“Sure…… Hm? This boss golem that you’re talking about, by any chance, was it the Giant Rock Golem?”

“Yeah, it had a name like that.”

I called it that on my own accord since it had a name that seemed similar to what a boss would have, but it appears that it didn’t get conveyed very well to Cocoa-chan.
When I described more of its characteristics, Cocoa-chan’s face gradually begins to tense up.

“Could this possibly be the golem you’re trying to defeat?”

“Yep, that’s right?”

“…… Why were you even challenging such a thing?”

“Because it’s there?”

“Ehhh……”

When I’d said that as my answer, Cocoa-chan crouched down while holding her head once again. Was she okay?

“You said golem, so I thought you were just talking about the regular golems…… No, even up till now, considering your movements, I thought it was strange that you somehow weren’t able to defeat it, but I couldn’t imagine that there was someone who actually decided to challenge a boss with just beginner’s equipment……”

“Cocoa-chan?”

“…… It’s nothing.”

As she stood back up, Cocoa-chan had an expression on her face that indicated that she’d given up on something and muttered, “Well, I guess it’s whatever. It’s Bell after all.”
Did I mess something up? Though, if she says it’s whatever, it probably wasn’t much of a big deal, so I suppose there’s no need to worry about it.

With that said, the 2 of us quickly defeated golems and goblins in succession as we progressed forward for a brief while before we finally arrived at the spot where we’d fight the boss golem. Compared to when I was by myself, the time it took for us to get here was much lesser.

“Now, let’s do this!!”

“It’s fine if you want to go for it, but once you start the boss battle, all your previously applied buffs as well as effects from any status condition changing skills will be cancelled out, so stay close until I use my support magic.”

“Okaaay.”

The «Priest» magic that Cocoa-chan used was convenient, but in contrast to the «Magician», its range was shorter. Meaning, when buffing someone, it seems like the main concern was that they had to be somewhat close to a certain extent.

More or less, they were able to take more hits compared to the «Magician» and depending on their stat allocations, they could possibly use recovery magic while maintaining the role of a vanguard too. Though, Cocoa-chan was an honest support main, so she tries to stay in the back as much as she could and doesn’t get very close to the boss.

“It’s coming.”

Then, while we were devising up a strategy that couldn’t really be considered a strategy, the boss golem descended down from the sky, just like it had done yesterday.
As the showy dust kicked up and the cool scene unfolded, Cocoa-chan activated her magic consecutively.

“«Offensive Aura», «Escape Aura», «Wise Aura»”

On the way here, we only used the «Escape Aura» to raise AGI, but since there was a boss this time, I had a lavish banquet filled with 3 different kinds of buffs.
In addition to AGI, my ATK and INT were also increased. 3 red status condition marks lit up at the edge of my vision, signifying the abilities that had been raised.
Immediately after I confirmed that, I tightly gripped my staff and started running!

“Okay, here I goooo!”

I let out a battle cry and made a bee-line straight for the boss before slamming my staff into its foot.
It didn’t deal much damage, but if I didn’t do so, the boss golem would concentrate its attention on Cocoa-chan while she was using magic and that’d be dangerous. I’d only just learned this from the battles on the way here, but I’ll put it into practice right at once.

As a result, it seems like my close-ranged attack made the boss golem recognize me as its target rather than Cocoa-chan who took distance from it. Its single eye glared bright red in my direction.

“Hup!”

The boss golem’s giant fist crashes down on the spot which I promptly jumped away from.
It’s the first time I’m seeing this attack, but I’ve thoroughly witnessed the same moves in the fights with other golems and I could roughly predict the range of the shockwaves, so I properly left the confines of its effect to avoid any needless damage.

“Oooou!”

“Ah, this is bad-!”

As though it was pursuing me, the boss golem’s eye shined even brighter towards me.
Since I could guess what was about to come, I immediately jumped to the side.
Soon after, the boss golem emits a red light that slices across the ground.
Because it was just light, it’s almost impossible to try to avoid it after seeing it. It seemed like it was going to keep aiming at me until it had to fire at the very last minute of its charge. If I didn’t jump at the right timing like I did just now, I’d take a direct hit.

“Bell, I’ll provide support for you so rush in one more time. «Cursed Escape», «Cursed Defensible»!”

While I was being targeted, Cocoa-chan sneaks closer to the boss golem in a roundabout path and casts a new magic.
It was a debuff type magic that weakened enemies instead of allies and lowered their stats.

“Thanks! Alright, I’m going all out!!”

The boss golem who had its 2 stats, AGI and DEF reduced, turned around to attack Cocoa-chan in any way possible, but it couldn’t reach her with its now broken doll-like movements.
In that opportunity, I launched myself off the ground towards the boss golem’s body and crawled up the mass of rocks.

“«Magic Strike»!!”

With Cocoa-chan’s support magic and the addition of my new equipment, my INT was doubled and everything was converted into ATK. My offensive ability had improved to a level that couldn’t be compared to previously. Thus, I used my full strength to bash its weak point, the singular eye.
Although it didn’t do any more than 10%, the boss golem had taken visible damage for the first time and its accumulated body staggers.

“Nice! One more-……. Wait, whaa!?”

I tried to connect another attack while I was at it, but the boss golem had unexpectedly shaken me off.
I thought that it would’ve gone after me considering what I’d just done, but this thing started aiming and walking towards Cocoa-chan!

“Ku-, the gain in hate from the debuff magic was a lot higher than I remembered……! I can’t play this out like usual, huh!”

Cocoa-chan escapes from there in a hurry, but she was a bit late.
The boss golems aims at Cocoa-chan and drops its enormous fist down.

“I won’t let yoouuu!!”

“B-Bell!?”

Not allowing it to do so, I jumped out in front of the boss golem and smacked the side of the incoming fist.
Dogonn!! A heavy sound echoed from its stone fist and the force of the swing somehow reversed the momentum, causing the boss golem to wind backwards.

Eh, but I’ve never seen this great of a knockback happen up until now though?

“Parry. If you time your attack and use your skill against a specific attack from your opponent, you can break their stance. It’s a general skill that can be used by all classes, not just the battlemage and if you use it several times, you could also gain an exclusive skill. You did well pulling off such a ridiculous move……”

“I see, so there was something like that too.”

Cocoa-chan explained that it was difficult to do since the timing was fairly strict.
I mean, it certainly seemed better to just block against attacks. It’d be hard to fend off an attack with another attack and even more so when you had to use a skill too.
However, the boss golem was currently slower than usual because of Cocoa-chan’s magic.

In this case, it looked easily doable.

“Oooou!!”

“Teyaaah!!”

The boss golem let out a mysterious roar and dispatched its fist.
Along with «Magic Strike», I deflected its attack using my staff.

“Ooogh!?“

“One more!!”

Taking advantage of the fact that its stance was broken, I stood firm and gave it another hard slug.
As expected, even the boss golem couldn’t endure its crumbled posture and collapsed there facing up.

“I’ve got you now!!”

I clung onto the base of its neck and successively clobbered it in its eye, the weak point which was now full of openings.
Looking at the scene from afar, you’d see a little girl sticking to a giant, repeatedly attacking it in a futile effort. However, in actuality, each hit caused an extremely violent sound to reverberate and the gap between senses sure was incredible.
I could’ve sworn I’d seen Cocoa-chan seemingly put off by it too, but maybe it was just my imagination?
Allow me to say my excuse, but this just happened to be my combat style by chance, so it’s not like it’s my hobby, okay!?

“Guoooo!!”

While I had that line of thought, the boss golem struggles and swings its arms frantically, trying to tear me off from its neck.
Its fist approached at the same time it was attempting to stand back up, causing my legs to waver unsteadily and making it impossible for me to run.

However, since I’ve learned how convenient the parry system was, this was also easy to deal with.

“Hoi!”

“Guoo……!?”

The fist that loomed closer from behind was knocked away by my staff.
I don’t know how it was for the other classes, but if I used «Magic Strike» and just normally repelled an attack within the duration of the skill, it would effortlessly initiate the parry.
Since the boss golem was wobbling and swaying, it was difficult to both attack and counter attack while clinging on with one hand, but…… The effect of «Magic Strike» would only last for 10 more seconds, so I’ll bring it down before time runs out!!

“Teyaaaa!!“

Bludgeon. Bludgeon. Bludgeon. Occasionally counter. Bludgeon again.
While alternating watch between the boss golem’s dwindling HP and the remaining time for «Magic Strike», I single-mindedly kept on swinging my staff without a thought towards anything else.

Great! If I continue striking at this pace, I’ll narrowly be able to shave off all its HP!

“Guooo……!!”

As I harbored that conviction, the boss golem’s entire body suddenly goes limp.
This is the body slam attack that I saw during the first fight! The range of the attack was immensely wide, but once you figured it out, its movements were crystal clear and full of openings.
If it’s now, it should be easy to fend it off with a parry and create another chance to attack……

“Bell! That’s a unique kind of attack you can’t defend against with a parry!”

“Ehh!?”

I was taken by surprise from the unexpected information that came my way, but my staff was already swinging down to strike. I couldn’t stop it at this point.

“«Defensive Aura», «Protection Gift»!!”

In that moment, Cocoa-chan invokes her magic.
A spell which increased the target’s DEF, enhancing it, and another spell that manifested a shield which could block a fixed amount of damage. The two spells respectively appear as a white aura and a translucent veil that served as a mantle for me. I was protected at the very last minute from the boss golem’s attack which would’ve been instant death if it had hit.

“Cocoa-chan, thank you!”

“Forget about the thanks, just hurry up and finish it off! Geez, you’re always so careless right at the very end!

“Ehehe, Sorry~”

Hm? About my bad habit (?), why did Cocoa-chan know about it? Even if she’d heard it from Shizuku, it almost seemed as if she’s witnessed it regularly……
Well, now’s not the time to think about that!

“With this, it’s over–!!”

I recovered from the damage exactly in the same timing as when the boss golem got back up again and immediately charged in with my staff at the ready.
Its singular bright red eye scowled at me in vexation as it was positioned at just the right height for me to conveniently aim at and finally, I struck with my staff. ――

At last, the boss golem’s HP ended up at 0 and its body was converted into polygon fragments.

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