'You've got to be kidding. ......'

　Rinne's muttered words were drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
　Sukuna didn't even have the time to agree with Rinne's words, and was struggling to control her mind that was about to explode.

　She clenched her teeth as hard as she could and held on to her hands, as if she were about to bleed in reality.
　The unimaginable pain pierced Sukuna's chest. Even so, it was too late. The distance is too far to go for help.
　And Rury was helplessly returned to the polygon fragment by the giant dragon's blow.

　Devastated. The raid party had been dealt a fatal blow.


　The wave that the giant dragon had unleashed with no motion was somewhat less powerful than the one it had unleashed the first time.
　It was probably simply due to the short time it took to build up.
　At any rate, it was weaker than the first wave that had been released after a charge of more than ten seconds, and at least Erumi who had been directly hit at close range had died instantly, so it was certain that the power of the wave was immense even if it was weakened.
　Even so, Erumi was the only player who was killed by the wave itself. Compared to the four players who had been wiped out earlier, the damage was small.

　In the first place, that wave has a large distance decay. If you're at the edge of the field, you can survive it even if you don't have any defensive spells, and if you cast defensive spells, you won't take any more damage.
　On the other hand, if you are at close range, it is powerful enough to kill you after crushing some guards and barriers. It was an easy attack to understand.

　The only reason Rinne survived unscathed was because he had put up a barrier early for Sukuna, who was retreating.
　Sukuna, too, was able to slip inside the barrier just in time, and suffered no particular damage.
　And ironically, thanks to the recovery spell cast by Lully, Sukuna's HP had recovered to full.

　Aside from Rinne and Sukuna, only Shuya was able to break through the wave unharmed. He had survived the surge by using his "One-Handed Shield" skill to guard against the surge.
　Tetsuya had activated his guard arts, but he was too close to the wave and was broken through head-on.
　However, although he took some damage, he was able to keep his body intact thanks to his guard.
　As a result of protecting a stray wizard player, Soramaru was unable to evacuate in time, and although he did not die, he was buried in the rubble with one of his legs taken off.
　The wizard player was blown up as well, but thanks to Soramaru's devotion, his damage was minimal.
　The duo of Ryuuri the Livestock and Necro the Dragon's Fang took some damage, but thanks to their position at the edge of the field, they were not fatally wounded.
　The healer of the Dragon Fang, a man in black whose name was unknown to ...... Sukuna, seemed to be the same as the two.

　After all, right after the wave of destruction was released, he was still in a position to recover.


　The problem was that the giant dragon had started to move right after the wave.
　It hadn't moved for nearly a minute earlier, but this time it only had a few seconds to spare.
　First of all, Drago, who was upset by Erumi's death, was killed. The fact that the giant dragon had stopped moving after the wave motion earlier may have caused him to relax a little, but even so, it was an untimely end.
　In fact, Drago had been killed. This caused further unrest in the entire raid party.

　The next target was Soramaru.
　At this point, Rinne realized that the giant dragon's behavioral pattern had completely changed.

　The reason why Drago was targeted first could be explained by saying that he had earned a huge amount of hate with his last big move.
　However, the next target should have been Sukuna.


　Because right before Drago's blow, it was Sukuna who was targeted by the giant dragon.

　It went straight for Soramaru, who was missing a leg.
　He stared at it with a dumbfounded expression, then bowed his head as if to apologize to everyone and was run over.
　A stray wizard was crushed to death. A necro died protecting a black-robed healer. He, too, was easily killed.

　And now, Liuli has been killed.
　Erumi, Drago, Soramaru, the Wizard, Necro, the Healer in Black, and Ryuuri.
　It took less than thirty seconds for all seven players to be killed.

'Whoo!　Whoo-hoo!'

　Sukuna sniffed, biting her lip and trying desperately to suppress her emotions.
　While holding her hand gently, Rinne apologized to Sukuna inwardly.

(I'm sorry, Nana. I know it's hard. I know it's painful.

　I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure you'll do fine.
　The situation is too confusing. If we were to lose Sukuna in this situation, our chance of winning would be completely gone.
　We have to avoid that.
　It was a situation we absolutely had to avoid.
　The giant dragon still had more than 2.5 gauges of HP left. Even if Rinne had cut off the rearguard, and even if Shuya had a rearguard, Sukuna's presence would be essential to finish the fight.


　The next target of the giant dragon, who had killed almost all of the rearguard, was Tetsuya, who was recovering from a potion.
　Seeing this, Rinne somehow understood why the giant dragon had left Sukuna, who was supposed to be taking care of the hate, to go and kill the other players.

　It wasn't strange that the giant dragon's behavioral pattern changed as its HP entered the third gauge.
　At first, I thought it was the hate resetting, but no.
　That no-motion wave itself served as a kind of marking.
　It's probably an algorithm that prioritizes killing players who are damaged by that attack.
　That's why the hate is going to Tetsuya, leaving out Sukuna, who probably still has a lot of hate.

　However, even Rinne can't read the order in which they kill each other. As for Drago, even though he was in an easy position to kill, he didn't have a low HP, and from there he concentrated on the rearguard, who was easier to kill.
　In any case, his behavior pattern is too unclear.
　However, it's not a good idea to have Tetsuya killed here. There were only four of them left in the raid.


'Geez!

　The invisible breath that Sukuna had struggled with earlier attacked Tetsuya.
　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to be doing.
　It's a good thing that you're not the only one who has a problem with this.
　The moment Tetsuya thought that, he was going to be wounded. Just as Tetsuya was thinking this, one of the players cut off his breath.

'Are you okay?



'I'm sorry, Shuya. Thanks for saving my life.

'It's okay. We're helping each other.

　Shuya slashes away at a series of breaths fired by the giant dragon with both of her large, thinly glowing swords.
　Master rank skill "Twin Daggers". This skill, which can only be obtained by raising the proficiency of the [Large Sword] skill and the [Double Sword] skill to 500 each, was a skill that none other than Shuya had any use for at the moment.

'I didn't want to use it too much, though.

　Shuya sighs, but keeps a relaxed expression on his face.

　It had been nearly a month and a half in real time since he had started playing this game, and he had spent more than a month of that time in this world.
　Yes, he has been in this world longer than any other player, and his level is the highest in the raid party, 94.
　The man with the highest level among the current players is Shuya, the third ranked member of the Clan "Knights of the Round Table".

　Even so, Shuya does not have the immense firepower of Skuna or Drago, nor does he have the trump card of armor.
　He doesn't have the enthusiasm of a professional gamer like Drago or Rinne, nor does he have the unique talents of Sukuna.
　He just leveled, completed quests, and enjoyed walking around the city. ...... That's how Shuya has been enjoying WLO as a normal game.

　However, I like to feel the passion of players like them.
　It's because I lack passion that I'm able to feel the glare of their passion.
　I want to support them and help them in any way I can.
　I can say that Shuya's showing the Twin Swords here and now is a manifestation of that kind of intention.

(Even so, this is an impossible game, isn't it?)

　As I said earlier, Shuya doesn't have any trump cards.
　As I mentioned earlier, Shuya doesn't have any trump cards that can be used as trump cards. He has only recently acquired these two large swords, and he is not very skilled with them. In other words, there are simply no powerful arts.

　Even so, there is one reason to use the "Double Dagger".
　It is because of its extremely high firepower.

　To put it bluntly, it was the biggest miscalculation of the raid party that Drago died without participating in most of the attacks.
　Her "Starlight Slasher" was indeed a powerful art, and she had actually taken out a tenth of the giant dragon's total HP by herself.

　However, if Drago had lived to continue the fight, he would have been able to shave off that much additional HP as simple firepower.
　For Shuya and Rinne, who had expected Drago to be a player who could cut down more than one gauge on his own, the loss of that firepower hurt them deeply.
　Thanks to Sukuna's ability to cut down more than we expected, we were barely able to make a profit, but Drago's early retirement was still painful.

　If Rinne plays his trump card, we can probably get another gauge. If Sukuna, Shuya, and Tetsuya fought as hard as they could, there was a chance that they would be able to cut down to the final gauge.
　But in between, there are two gauge shifting actions that have killed a total of 11 players.
　Will you be able to get through those actions, which twice took advantage of players' weaknesses, unscathed?
　And if you do, will you be able to defeat the maximally strengthened giant dragon that has reached the final gauge?
　It's impossible no matter how hard you try. That was the reason why Shuya judged this battle to be an impossible game.


　However, there is one element that may lead to a breakthrough.
　It was the presence of Sukuna, who was now being held back by Rinne.
　She's different from her usual mild-mannered and vague demeanor, as if she's about to lash out.
　Anger. Or disappointed. I had seen her from a distance earlier, but she seemed to be eager to go and help her allies.



　But at that point, Rinne was right to stop it.
　The giant dragon at that time was more agile and cunning than the one Shuya was facing now, and probably had more power in its attacks.
　It doesn't matter whether Shuya, Tetsuya, or Sukuna goes.
　After all, Sukuna was a full attacker. He's not like Tank, who protects his friends. That's why he would have died sooner or later, unable to protect them.
　If he wasn't a tank of Noel's caliber, the right thing to do would have been to not let him go.

　But maybe the current Sukuna would have been able to handle it.
　That's how horrifyingly terrifying the atmosphere of the Sukuna was.

'Oops, Twin Strike!

　Not a clawed slash, but a crushing press attack.
　Shuya hit it back head-on.

'Gosh, ...... is a fat dragon...'

　It's a great way to make sure you're getting the most out of your time with your family.

I'm not sure what to do.

　It's a great way to make sure you're getting the most out of your time with your family.
　You'll be able to see that the dragon is still weak against the lightning attribute, and the dragon is visibly frightened.
　When Shuya saw this, he decided it was now or never and sent a signal to Rinne.

'Rinne!

'Can you do it!

'I'll manage!　The next gauge won't give us a chance anyway, and more importantly, it's going to be tough without Sukuna!

　That's the last thing he really said.
　We have to trust them. In them and in Sukuna.

Got it!　Nana, are you okay?

'...... I'm fine!

'Go ahead and put your mind to it!

'Yes!

　After seeing Sukuna off, Rinne finally decided to use the trump card he had.


☆


'What I seek is the truth of piling up. I wish for ten successive stars.

　Sukuna entered the fray and began chanting as she watched the three players clash head-on with the giant dragon.
　Rare skill 《Renshoujutsu》. This is a rare skill that Rinne once acquired when she defeated a certain monster, and it is her greatest trump card.
　The skill's effect is very complicated, but simply put, it allows the user to cast the same spell in multiples of up to ten.

　How is this different from casting the same spell over and over again?
　The difference is that the power of each spell increases with the number of spells stacked on top of each other, a kind of "tenfold cherry blossom" effect.

　For example, if the number of spells stacked is two, the power multiplier is 1.5. It is like multiplying 1+1 by 1.5. With the same amount of MP, you can cast a spell with three times the power that you would normally cast with two.


　Three multiplied by two. The power multiplier is added in 0.5 increments like that, and if you stack 10, the power multiplier is 5.5. Since the original spell itself has 10 pieces, it becomes 55 times more powerful than a single shot of that spell by itself.
　It's similar to the Tenfold Cherry Blossom in that the final result is 55 times more powerful, but that spell had the problem of recoil damage.
　Naturally, this one has its own troublesome disadvantages.

　The first is the MP problem. Because binary star magic releases spells 'at once', it consumes MP for the number of times you stack them.
　Therefore, you can only use it with spells that can be cast at the same time for the number of times you want to stack them. If you want to stack 10 times, you need to use a spell that can be used more than 10 times.

　Secondly. It takes an inordinate amount of time to activate.
　In exchange for the recoil damage, 《Jyujyuzakura》 has the greatest advantage of being able to be terminated in just a few seconds.
　In contrast, "Renshoujutsu" sacrifices all of its speed.

　In other words, the number of spells stacked✕ the power multiplier✕ 5 seconds.
　So if you stack 2 spells, you get 2✕ 1.5✕ 5 seconds, or 15 seconds.
　If there are 10 spells, then 10✕ 5.5✕ 5 seconds equals 275 seconds, or a little over 4.5 minutes.

　And the third one. While this skill is active, Rinne cannot move at all. In other words, she has to become a completely fixed tower.
　Four and a half minutes without being able to move at all in the face of a giant dragon with all-round attacks and breaths.
　If Rinne were to take a direct hit from the giant dragon's attack, he would probably only be able to withstand one blow. Or she might die in one hit.

'I'm counting on you, all three of you.

　After muttering as if in prayer, Rinne begins to prepare to lay down magic.

'The staff that summons the flame that splits the sky, let it be a guide on the ground.

　She thrusts the 《Blue Jade Staff》 into the ground and begins to chant.
　The magic that Rinne will use this time is the Lightning Ballista. It's the only spell that can reliably fire ten shots and is advanced.

'The lightning strike that resides in my arm, now release it here as a crossbow.

　This is the "Lightning Ballista" with full chanting. In WLO, full chanting with words is one of the ways to increase the power of magic.
　Normally, you would release it with no chanting, but now you have plenty of time anyway.
　If that's the case, the power of the spell should be increased as much as possible.
　That's the only job Linnea can do.

'Stack'.

　A light appears behind Rinne.
　That's one. Rinne continues chanting again.

'The staff that summoned the flame that split the heavens, let it be a guide on earth. The thunderbolt that resides in my arm, let it be released here and now as a crossbow.

　One by one. Be careful what you chant. If you make a mistake, it could go off.



'Overlap'.

　A second light came on, following the first.

'240 seconds to go'.

　There was still a long way to go.
　While praying for the three people who were in the vanguard to do well, Rinne carefully piled up the spells.


☆


I'm not sure what to do.

　This is the first time I've been able to do this.
　I'm not sure how many times I'll get hit by it, but the moment I flicked it with my claws, Sukuna dove into the giant dragon's bosom.

''Deadly Hammer!

''Goaaaa!

　Zun!　I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.
　It was just a simple punch that could be called a "super slam," but the blow caused the giant dragon's body to lift off the ground for a moment.

'You're kidding!

'Yeah. ......'

　Even his two allies could not hide their astonishment at the terrifying power of the blow, but the secret behind its power was the gravity attribute, an attribute of the Night Darkness.

　When attached to a weapon, the gravity attribute has two simple effects.
　The first is to make the weight of the weapon heavier, and the second is to make the weight of the weapon lighter.
　If that is all, you may not feel the significance. However, both of these effects are prefixed with "when attacked".
　In other words, this is an effect that is triggered when you hit someone. The wielder can wield the weapon as usual, but when the attacker is hit by the weapon, the attacker will be hit by an incomprehensibly heavy attack or a feather-light attack.

　Basically, the only effect that is useful when attacking is the "make heavier" effect, but in WLO, where physical calculations based on the weight of the weapon are incorporated into the damage calculation, making the weapon "heavier" will increase its power, and making it "lighter" will reduce its power.
　In other words, you can use the "lighten" effect when you want to take it easy for capturing, so it is not useless.
　Incidentally, in the case of "Night Darkness", the multiplier of the heavier effect is up to 3 times.
　There is a limit of 0.01 for the lightening effect.

　What Sukuna just used to unleash the Arts is, of course, with the weight tripled.
　This means that a weapon with a required strength value of 885 is equal to ....... Although it cannot be calculated simply, it is at least a blow with a weight that exceeds one ton in feeling.
　In addition to the multipliers of the arts, combined with the high strength of the original muscles, it was powerful enough to lift the body of the giant dragon, even if only for a moment.

　However, in order to activate this "gravity attribute", the wearer's own MP would be required.
　Why did Sukuna save this incredibly powerful weapon? It was because the weapon's gravity attribute could only be activated a few times by Sukuna, whose MP was too low for the demon race.


'Go-o-o-o......'

　The three of them continued to gather the hate of the giant dragon for Rinne for several minutes.
　The battle had been going fairly well, but the time had finally come.
　The giant dragon had noticed Rinne's presence.

'That's not good.

　Renshoujutsu, while in effect, continues to slowly gain hate. That's because it's the same as activating the magic all the time.
　In the event that you've got a lot of time, you might want to take a look at a few of these.



　I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, but it's a good idea.
　This is the first time I've seen him do this. You can find a lot of people who are looking for the best way to get the most out of their life.
　There were only about ten seconds left. In the event you're not sure what you're looking for, there are a number of things you can do.

'Tetsuya-san, Shuya-san!

''Just shut up and watch!

'I'll make sure I can prevent it.

　It's a double shield, with Tetsuya as the reliable tank and Shuya as the top level player.
　But when Sukuna saw the amount of energy the giant dragon was recharging, he still didn't think he could prevent it.

　In the first place. What if I don't take on the role of protecting Rinne?
　What Sukuna was born with was the power to protect Rinne.
　I couldn't protect the other players. That unspoken passion still smoldered within Sukuna.
　Sukuna stood further behind Tetsuya and Shuya, and instantly changed his equipment to Kagewumi.
　He then claps his hands in a dance.

　The rare skill "Oni no Mai".
　He activates the "Three Style Water Mirror Dance".
　In addition, he also activated the "Set of Rapture Dance" and the "Set of Two Multi-Bladed Dance.

　The giant dragon unleashed a massive breath at the three players standing in the way to protect Rinne.


　Tetsuya was the first to be reached by the extreme light.
　He put away his weapon, took out a new shield, and held it in both hands, activating the most powerful defensive arts.
　The "Two-Handed Great Shield" skill, the defensive art "Exlayer Phalanx".
　It was the most powerful defensive art for piercing attacks, deploying 10 defensive wards in front of it.

　At the moment of the collision, three of them were instantly destroyed by fire.
　In one breath, two more. In the next breath, one more.
　In just a few seconds, six cards were cut off, and Tetsuya was still able to endure with the remaining four.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

　He knows it's just his spirit.
　Shouting won't change the durability of the Arts.
　But Tetsuya still shouted.
　To inspire himself. To inspire his friends.

　The battle lasted less than ten seconds.
　But the power of the breath was steadily reduced, and Tetsuya was blown away by it.

　Shuya then thrust his twin daggers into the ground so that they were crossed, and grasped the two hilts to activate his arts.
　The "Great Sword" skill, the "Blaze Shield" art for guarding.
　This is no less than the defensive art of the Great Shield, and it was activated by both of the two swords that were thrust into the ground.

　Each one is a weak defensive art, not even comparable to Tetsuya's "Exlayer Phalanx".


　However, Shuya's Twin Daggers skill has a passive effect that allows her to activate individual arts with both of the two daggers in her hand.
　Two overlapping defensive arts. And thanks to Tetsuya's desperate efforts to block it, the breath was weakened.

I'll get through this. Sukuna doesn't have any defensive arts. If I don't prevent it here, I'm finished.

　The giant dragon's breath bursts into the Blaze Shield that Shuya has activated.
　Even though Tetsuya was able to offset some of the damage, he still found himself being pushed with tremendous power.
　After a few seconds of struggle, an unpleasant sound like metal cracking echoed through the air.
　When Shuya turned his gaze, he saw a crack in the greatsword.

It's not good. It's not good. I can't take it. ......)

　At least change the direction of the breath. .......
　The moment Shuya thought that much, the defense of the twin daggers collapsed.
　I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.


(Both of them risked their lives to protect Rinne. This is not a futile resistance. I'll definitely stop it.

'Starve, Fang of the Wolf King'.

　Sukuna activated all of her attack buffs and faced the oncoming breath of light head-on.

　I'm not sure what to do. Breath and magic attacks cannot be drowned out by ordinary attacks.
　However, there are several ways to make this possible.
　One is to use a weapon that can guard against them.
　Alternatively, you can use defensive arts and skills with weapons that do not.
　Another is to use arts with the same attribute to counteract the attack.

　For example, Shuya just cut off a giant dragon's breath with a wind-powered sword.
　A non-attribute release attack can be countered by any attribute attack.
　Or perhaps the giant dragon's breath was wind-based, which would allow him to get rid of it with no problem.
　Shuya must have made such a decision and responded to the breath with a wind attribute attack.

　However, all of Sukuna's weapon skills are incapable of learning arts with attributes.
　And even if she could, she would not be able to determine the attribute of the breath in front of her at a glance.
　That's why both Tetsuya and Shuya tried to defend against the breaths by using defense instead of attack.

　But Sukuna is standing here now.
　That's because she has a means to cancel out the Breath.
　That was the 《Three Styles of Water Mirror Dance》.

　Its effect is that, for 30 seconds after activation, it cancels out any physical or magical attack equivalent to the user's attack power.
　In the past, when she fought Amber in Trillia, she told Sukuna that 'Type Three is a countermeasure to magic'.
　This is precisely what she meant when she said that it could grant a state that could cancel out magic.

(Sorry. And thank you.



　He inwardly thanked Kagehito for holding it in his hand.
　It's been the best weapon that's supported Sukuna for the last ten days.
　That's why the time for the end is here and now.
　In exchange for a star strike that will destroy everything.

　skill, strongest art.
　Meteo Impact.

　I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.


I'm sorry.


(Thank you, everyone.)

　Tetsuya and Shuya scattered their lives.
　Sukuna threw down her weapon and unleashed the Meteor Impact, prepared to be completely immobilized herself.
　In gratitude for all of this, Rinne completes the art of binary star formation.

'The glow of the ten stars in a row, here and now, be the blow of salvation!

　With a creaking ...... sound, Rinne's right arm is held up to the giant dragon.
　I'm not sure what to make of it.
　All the magic has already been loaded.

　Her hand was pointed straight at the behemoth. And the behemoth can't even move to see it.
　I unleashed such a powerful breath. It was inevitable that the giant dragon would recoil and be unable to move.

'Come on, let's go!

　No need to hesitate.
　He squeezed his right arm and thrust out.
　With a motion that resembled a fist bump, the light of doom was released without a sound.

　It was a ten-star blow, one that Rinne had never delivered before.
　It was just like a meteor.
　It became a ray of light and pierced the giant dragon's body.