[What do you think 'Death' is?]
[The King said, death can be seen. The body will rot, grass and trees will wither, weapons and armor will rust, and fluorescent light will eventually extinguish—]
[Therefore, death is actually a color.]
Based on his previous combat experience with the [Golden Miracle] and Pal, Isagi realized that to successfully conquer the [Pale King], what he probably needed was a true "No Damage" battle.
He could not be touched by the opponent; even the clashing of weapon against weapon would not do.
Accompanied by the sound of distant drumbeats, Isagi had Lefiya and the others standby in front of the Fog Gate, while he went to test the depth of the [Pale King] himself—since he had already decided to sacrifice a life, he had to at least fish out some intelligence, right?
Since he was already here.
Isagi took the initiative to step forward. The weapon in his hand changed several times, from a long staff, greatsword, long blade, iron hammer, dual swords, dagger... finally, it settled on the Great Spear that had dropped after killing the Red Spirit earlier.
There was actually nothing special about this weapon, and its Combat Art was very ordinary.
But it was long enough.
Facing a battle that required being completely "No Damage" and not letting the opponent touch him once, having a longer weapon was always a bit safer.
At least—
Beyond Isagi's imagination, the speed of the [Pale King] was fast to some kind of extreme!
No.
It broke through the limits of what he could understand!
It was even faster than Anya and Ryuu-senpai!
This proved that his previous prediction was correct. The Level of the [Pale King] was Lv.5, exceeding all monsters and BOSSes encountered before. In the entire [Goblin Kingdom], it was a uniquely powerful existence.
The gap in Level was still too ridiculous!!
Almost entirely relying on instinct, Isagi quickly lowered his head, then instantly switched the Great Spear in his hands into dual swords.
With this speed gap, it was simply impossible for him to open up and maintain distance from the [Pale King]!
Therefore, the initiative was completely in the opponent's hands.
Isagi only felt that everything before his eyes had turned into indistinguishable afterimages.
It was like disordered lines.
Or perhaps like a dazed cloud of mist where nothing existed.
He basically couldn't see any of the [Pale King]'s movements; vision had even become a hindrance at this moment.
Fortunately, he often trained with Anya and Ryuu-senpai before.
Unlike the practice with the Lady Goddess.
The girls, who were one Level higher than him, were "beating" him with pure stats. In a situation where he absolutely couldn't keep up with the opponent's speed, Isagi naturally figured out a method to barely cope.
That was "Feeling."
At this moment, Isagi seemed to realize something.
He entered a rather marvelous state.
Although he was clearly constantly dodging the [Pale King]'s attacks, what surfaced in his mind was the previous battle with the [Golden Miracle]. That blade strike which should have been incomparably difficult, yet occasionally he could swing it out with relaxed ease and without obstruction.
That moment back then was exactly like this moment right now.
Attacking, defending, and dodging were the same; they were all control over the body. The Lady Goddess was right; ten thousand changes do not depart from the origin.
Call it whatever you want.
Essentially, this was making the body keep up with the feeling, while also precisely controlling it to reach that "point" that was just right.
Just like the beat of music. He understood now; combat was also playing in a band!
"!"
"!!"
"!!!"
The sound of the heart beating was the drumbeat. Every movement of the body had to follow the feeling forward without a fraction of error.
In this instant, Isagi reached enlightenment again!
The experience accumulated in the past surged out from his mind all at once, like sweeping away the clouds to see the sun.
The thoughts that were originally troubling and puzzling were now as incomparably natural as "1+1=2."
And in the eyes of the girls in the distance, all of this was equally inconceivable.
Lefiya completely couldn't see the [Pale King]'s movements.
As a Mage, her Level was only Lv.3, and she lacked experience in dealing with high-speed targets—the Elf girl's usual training partners were mainly the Lady Goddess, Filvis, and Tiona.
Although she would also fight with Ryuu-senpai, they basically never fought one-on-one (because it was assumed she couldn't win).
So.
Facing a monster whose speed had already surpassed her own limits, what Lefiya could see were just pale afterimages.
The vision fed back through her eyes couldn't even let her heart make a judgment in time, before she realized that everything she had just seen was already a picture from a "long, long time" ago.
Under these circumstances, if she faced it alone, she would be killed instantly.
It was precisely because the adventures during this period had allowed the girl to grow into a seasoned adventurer that she was able to make such a judgment instantly.
The fear that hadn't appeared for a long time resurfaced at this moment.
But this time.
Lefiya did not act like before, where apart from crying from fright, her mind would go blank and she would chant her magic at the monster regardless of anything else—that was not courage, but despair and self-abandonment.
Contrary to that, although the Elf girl's body still couldn't stop trembling, she was still thinking. Thinking about how to deal with the monster and enemy before her eyes.
Just like the boy who was fighting the opponent at this moment.
[Isagi hasn't given up!]
[No matter how powerful, this is a guy we have to defeat!!]
Courage had already taken root and sprouted in the girl's heart.
Moreover, the way Isagi was fighting the [Pale King] right now was indeed somewhat hard to understand.
The opponent's speed was so fast it couldn't be seen clearly.
But the boy's every move and action—let alone Tiona and Ryuu—even Lefiya could see clearly.
Thus.
The battle before their eyes became inexplicably bizarre. One side seemed to be accelerated, while the other side seemed to be slowed down.
The two guys seemed to have completely different art styles.
But it just so happened that Isagi was precisely, barely dodging the [Pale King]'s attacks every single time.
Although...
In the eyes of Ryuu and Tiona, this was unsustainable.
The gap in Level was still too large.
The two Lv.4 girls could barely see the monster's movements clearly—among them, Ryuu thought she could probably fight it—but it was just a probability. She had absolutely no certainty, and even had a trance-like feeling of heart-pounding terror.
Because the tall Goblin in the distance, with every move and action, as well as the dangerous aura it emitted, was even comparable to that nightmare from the past...
Although Isagi looked like he was in a stalemate with the opponent right now.
It was extremely forced, and he couldn't even fight back.
Just dodging already required his full effort. The boy right now probably couldn't spare a tiny bit of "space," whether in body, thought, or feeling, to consider attacking.
[Shock].
[Excitement].
[Resolve].
The tip of the iceberg revealed by this unimaginably powerful monster at this moment was carved into the hearts of the three girls.
And at this moment, Isagi, who was truly fighting the [Pale King].
Was thinking of nothing in his heart.
[Void].
There was nothing in the boy's heart. Only during an accidental glance did he discover that his body was covered in a pale color.
Very slow, but it was definitely there.
Like bone-eroding maggots, or like a spreading tide, [Pale] was invading his body bit by bit.
But occasionally.
It would stop, or recede slightly—Isagi thought, this was probably the "Amulet" and "Ring" he was wearing right now taking effect.
They both had the ability to "slightly increase resistance to 'Death'."
So it slowed down the accumulation speed of the "Abnormal Status," and at the same time, made its recession speed faster.
But this wasn't the main point.
The main point was that he hadn't been touched by the [Pale King], and he hadn't even attacked it, so how was he getting hit with an Abnormal Status?!
Could it be—
Isagi seemed to suddenly understand something.
He raised his head, and just happened to meet that pair of steady and indifferent eyes of the tall Goblin.
"!"
Just like that, a few seconds passed.
Isagi discovered his body couldn't move. It was as if he reached a certain critical point; originally barely able to circle around with the BOSS, he suddenly "lagged" for a moment.
Then in the next instant, his vision went black, and he was directly insta-killed by the opponent.
F*ck your mother!
What is this about the Abnormal Status bar increasing just by being "seen"?!
You are the [Pale King], a Goblin, not some Medusa!
Moreover.
This kind of mechanic is simply unheard of, okay!
Could it be a mechanic that is difficult to implement in games, but has no difficulty in reality, so...
Run!
After Isagi turned into a wisp of golden monkey hair and drifted out of the Fog Gate.
The girls were also swift, one could even say experienced, as they immediately turned and left the BOSS Room.
Gareth and the others waiting outside clearly didn't know what had happened.
Immediately following, Isagi and the girls discovered.
That if they wanted to go back.
It seemed they had to pass through that large section of road filled with mechanisms and traps from before again, first returning to the Central Tower located on the 11th Floor, and then opening the shortcut from there to leave the [Goblin Kingdom].
Amazing. You even learned to leave a parkour section in front of the BOSS room, huh?
Fortunately, the traps in the entire [Throne Room] hadn't reached an unacceptable degree.
But unknown why, looking at the Dungeon that was learning to be more and more wicked, Isagi also had some not-so-good premonitions...
When they successfully returned to the ground, unknowingly, it had already been several days since the adventure began.
They didn't feel it while inside the Dungeon.
Once back on the ground, exhaustion surged out from their bodies in the blink of an eye, making people only want to go back and sleep.
Bidding farewell to Gareth and the others, who still had to go to the Dian Cecht Familia station to send Bete to recuperate, Isagi also took Lefiya and the others and walked towards their own Familia's [Stardust Garden].
"Phew..."
The night colors of late summer were still somewhat oppressive.
Between the long streets with people coming and going, even the wind was scarce. Looking at the layers of clouds slowly accumulating in the sky curtain, presumably, a heavy rain would fall shortly.
Isagi's mood at this moment was actually considered relaxed.
The [Pale King] won against him, so it became an arrogant army. Thus, the arrogant army is bound to lose. And he lost to the [Pale King], so he became a mournful soldier. Thus, the mournful soldier is bound to win!
Regarding the boy's strange theory.
The girls were dumbfounded listening to it. However, one point could be confirmed.
Facing a powerful enemy that had already appeared and was difficult to defeat, then, the thing to do next was very simple: make oneself stronger!
And firstly, without a doubt.
It was to let both Isagi and Lefiya continue to increase their Ability Scores and level up to Lv.4.
____
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