Chapter 52: A Nasty Opponent
After talking all night, it was now morning.
I somehow managed to convince the three girls. I’ll have to report daily using the team-limited communication. That might be a little troublesome, but I suppose it can’t be helped.
I also instructed Silvia and Eko to have a special training by ‘fighting at the Limptfert Dungeon alone’ while I’m away. However, it’s not like they are going to be diving into the dungeon alone; the two will enter, but one will fight while the other one watches from behind.
“Wouldn’t this be a little hard for Eko? “
Silvia was saying such a thing. Certainly, Eko can only use 【Shieldmanship】 and 【Healing Magic】. It will take her a considerable amount of time to defeat even one of the monsters along the way.
However, the answer to her question was no. I told Silvia that, if anything, she had it harder.
With this special training, these two will surely know the importance of the forward guard and the rear guard. They need to not get too full of themselves. And it will really be helpful if they grow by the time I get back.
Yukari, on the other hand, was made to take a vacation.
……However, she said she would be ashamed if she were the only one not doing anything, so I asked her for a single long-term issue. As soon as her 《Disassembly》skill is at Grade 9, she will be starting to get actively engaged.
————-
And thus, it was such a farewell with them.
When I left the mansion a lot of servants were lined up in front of the gate, and together with the three girls, they saw me off.
I was a little embarrassed, so I simply told them “Thank you” and rode off on top of Seventh Teiō.
From here, I’ll be heading towards the town of Pae Ho. From there, I’ll then head towards the port town Koula and head off to the sea by boat. A small island nearby is the location of an upper-class dungeon called 『Isoreus』.
Since I have to make a small detour to the Ashaspern Dungeon, I will stay overnight in the town of Pae Ho. The next day, I will travel all day and stay the night in Koula. In other words, the day after tomorrow is when I challenge Isoreus.
Well then.
Using 《Spirit Summoning》, I called for my reliable companion whom I will be fighting along with for a long time, in manner mode.
“（――Why did you call me while riding, my Second? ）“
The minute I summoned him, the Great Spirit King Angolmois spoke to me using telepathic communication.
“（I’ll share some information since I’ll be fighting a very strong enemy. ）“
“（What?! Is that true?!）“
Angolmois visibly became in high spirits. I already figured it out a bit, but this guy is seriously a fighting maniac.
“（Calm down. I said very strong, but I think I expressed myself wrong. ）“
“（What do you mean? ）“
“（It is very strong. Incredibly so. To the point where if one were to win against it the first time they fight it, I would get naked and prostrate before them. ）“
“（Hoo! So, there’s an opponent who can make my Second say that?! My blood is boiling! Fuhahaha! ）“
“（That enemy is the Darkness Wolf. I want to tame it. ）“
“（Tame, you say?! Tame such a strong enemy?!）“
“（That’s right. I need to half-kill it, then try to tame it, and if that fails I’ll just start over again. I’ll be repeating this. ）“
“（What a brave feat. Admirable. However, hmm…… That will be a long fight. ）“
We arrived at Pae Ho while talking about it.
After securing the lodging, we headed towards Ashaspern.
“（Why did you come here? ）“
“（To get the horn of a goblin mage. Well, to put it simply, it’s just something to use as a ‘last resort’. ）”
“（……Hohoo. You don’t leave anything to chance. ）“
Through the sense of unity I could tell Angolmois was impressed by my preparations.
After collecting the goblin mage’s horn we returned to Pae Ho.
And since we were already here, I bought some high-class potions from the specialty store. 10 million CL in total. I already have in my inventory enough potions that one wouldn’t use them all for a lifetime, but it doesn’t hurt to buy some more when I have the chance. That is because from now on, I’ll consume so many of them it even hurts me to think about.
————-
The next day.
From the morning, we went to the port town Koula while I rode on Seventh Teiō.
Taking advantage of the spare time I talked to Angolmois, who was still in manner mode, in order to share the information I had.
“（I’ll think of the basic information I know of the Darkness Wolf, so please check it with the sense of unity. ）”
“（As you wish. ）“
Alright, so far the preparations look good. For starters, let’s think about the Darkness Wolf’s basic skills.
————-
《Darkness Shift》: Transforms from Wolf-form to Human-form and vice versa. The transformation time is 8 seconds.
《Darkness Transfer》: Instantly transfer yourself to a previously known location. However, the transfer destination must be a shadow.
《Darkness Summon》: Human-form only. Instantly transfer something other than yourself to a recorded location. However, the transfer destination must be a shadow.
《Darkness Magic》: Human-form only. Emits a fog of darkness that 「Forcibly lowers the remaining HP to 1」 at a wide area in front. Preparation time: 3 seconds.
《Darkness Howl》: Wolf-form only. Strong long-range attack to the front. Preparation time: 2 seconds.
《False Shadow》: Negates attacks received from the moment it activates. No preparation time, active time: 3 seconds, cooldown time: 30 seconds.
※ Physical attacks are nullified when in wolf-form, magic attacks are nullified when in human-form.
“（Wh-What the heck is that! ?）“
There was surprise in Angolmois’ voice.
What he was surprised about was probably ‘that’ and ‘that’.
“（All attacks are negated! ?）“
“（That’s right. ）“
“（And it forcibly lowers your stamina to 1!? Does such a strange magic exist! ?）“
“（It does. And also, it uses it quite often too. ）“
“（…………）“
As I expected, even the Great Spirit King became lost for words.
“（There’s no problem with the attack negation. What’s scary is that the near instant death attack is in a “wide area”. And even more scary is, after Darkness Magic, it uses ‘a large number of different attacks’. ）“
“（Then…… You should heal up quickly. Is that the reason why you bought so many potions? ）“
“（No, it’s better not to heal up right away. Ideally, one should heal up after being safe. ）“
“（Why? ）“
“（Because after using Darkness Magic, it will either use Darkness Summon or Jojutsu to attack. With the former, the priority is to prevent it, and to avoid it if it’s the latter. ）“
TLN: Jojutsu (or Joujutsu) is fighting with canes, as opposed to Bojutsu or (Boujutsu) which is fighting with staves.
“（Wait. Jojutsu? Never heard of that. ）“
“（You’ll see it soon. ）“
The skills of the Darkness Wolf aren’t only the ones I just mentioned. Let’s share those while including them in the behavior patterns this time. These are the Darkness Wolf’s patterns that I’ve learned and accumulated after thousands of tries and kills.
————-
① Rush → ② Body Slam or Claw attack or ③ Bite or ④ Darkness Transfer.
③ Bite → Darkness Howl → Darkness Transfer → ① Rush or ⑤ Darkness Shift.
④ Darkness Transfer → ① Rush or ⑤ Darkness Shift.
⑤ Darkness Shift → Darkness Magic → Darkness Transfer → ⑥ Darkness Summon.
② Body Slam or Claw attack → If the attack succeeds, Darkness Transfer → Darkness Howl → ① Rush ／ If the attack is unsuccessful, Darkness Transfer → Darkness Shift → ⑥ Darkness Summon.
⑥ Darkness Summon → Shadow Cane or Dark Flame Spear and Darkness Trasnfer to wherever is closer.
Shadow Cane → 「Jojutsu Mode」until it goes ‘down’ （Repeatedly using Darkness Magic and 【Jojutsu】）
Dark Flame Spear → 「Strongest Mode」until it goes ‘down’ （Repeatedly using Darkness Transfer and 【Spearmanship】 attacks）
After going down → Darkness Shift → ① Rush.
Jojutsu Mode: Turns the shadow into a cane, relentlessly attacking. A Shadow Cane characteristic is that, even if the shadow is attacked, damage is received.
Strongest Mode: Makes long reaching attacks with the Dark Flame Spear while transferring from shadow to shadow. Every time the Dark Flame Spear is thrusted, a powerful Dark Flame comes out.
※ 《False Shadow》 can be added randomly to the above patterns.
————-
“（……That’s totally outrageous. ）“
“（That’s basically what I said. ）“
For the Great Spirit King to be calling the Darkness Wolf outrageous. It really is a nasty opponent.
Its stats were not high, but there was this “theory about how it was the strongest among the monsters in Mobius” among players. The secret behind that strength was the annoyance of the attacks. In particular, the 《Darkness Magic》 and 【Jojutsu】combo was quite nasty. I really want to tame it in this world by all means.
“（I’ll say some important points. The first attack of the Darkness Wolf when in wolf-form is always a Rush, and the first attack when in human-form is always either Darkness Magic or Darkness Summon.）“
“（Hmm, how do you respond? ）“
“（Well, the response to those situations is already ingrained in my body, I might not have to share that, but I’ll tell you anyways. ）“
There are about 11 points to consider when facing the Darkness Wolf.
１． Try not to receive the Darkness Magic as much as possible. In case you do, immediately drink a potion after getting to a safe spot.
２． Never receive Darkness Magic while in Jojutsu Mode.
３． Don’t get hit by the Dark Flame Spear.
４． To check if in False Shadow state, just check the Darkness Wolf’s shadow. If there’s no shadow, the False Shadow state is active.
５． Set up a bonfire in advance to fix the positions of the shadows.
６． When in human-form, damage it with 《Rook Archery》 and 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》.
７． When in wolf-form, damage it using a combination of 《Rook Archery》 and 《Lightning Attribute?Third Form》.
８． If it comes close while in human-form, counter it with 《Bishop Swordsmanship》. Aiming at the feet will knock it back, and with a critical it will go “down”.
９． If it comes close while in wolf-form, counter it with a combination of 《Bishop Swordsmanship》 and 《Lightning Attribute?First Form》. If it’s a critical, it will knock it back.
10． Make good use of the invincible state of 《Transform》.
11． If 《Tame》 fails, it’s more time-efficient to use a potion on the Darkness Wolf.
“（Why is that? ……Why would you use a potion on the Darkness Wolf? And what’s the invincible state of Transform? ）“
“（The Tame skill stated that it can be used when the monster’s HP is at or below 20%, but in reality, it can only be used once you shave off 80% of the monster’s HP. Therefore, it’s better to recover the 80% of the Darkness Wolf’s HP using potions, and it’s more efficient than waiting for its natural recovery. ）”
You can always kill it and wait for it to respawn, but in this world there’s no guarantee it will appear again, so it’s better to play it safe and recover it with a potion.
“（Incidentally, the Transform skill has the characteristic that it gives an invincibility state until the transformation is completed. I think it’s around 8 seconds. Did you know you can’t do anything during this time? ）”
“（I had no idea. I can’t even begin to grasp the abyssal knowledge that you possess, my Second……）“
This is mainly for an emergency evasion.
Basically, you would fight alternating between 《Spirit Possession》 and 《Transform》 in order to avoid dropping the buffs.
《Spirit Possession》 at Grade 9 increases the stats by a total of 450%, the active time is 310 seconds and the cooldown time is 250 seconds.
《Transform》 at Grade 9 increases the stats by a total of 360, the transformation time is 420 seconds and the cooldown time is 230 seconds.
In other words, after transforming, you can use possession and then, when 230 seconds have passed, you can use 《Transform》 again. This might not be important now, but there’s no harm in remembering it.
————-
“（We will arrive soon. ）“
The port town Koula could be seen ahead.
Then, I noticed just by chance. My hands that were holding Seventh Teiō’s reins were shaking.
……Trembling with excitement. Every cell in my body is restless thinking of the deadly fight that will last for weeks to come.
How long will the tame require?
I quietly spent the night before the start of the battle wishing to tame it as soon as possible, while reminiscing of the Darkness Wolf who was now in a world where I have yet to see it.
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