"Anya, you stay out of this for now."
Gripping the greatsword in his hand, Isagi walked forward, already prepared for battle.
The guy in front of him was obviously off; it was definitely much stronger than the "Goblin Guard" he had encountered on the 1st Floor earlier. After all, the Dungeon had personally announced its name.
So...
This bro is a bona fide BOSS?!
The [Feat] has arrived.
Isagi could feel it; this was the ladder for him to step up to Level 2, and an opponent he must surpass, so he couldn't let Anya help.
Of course, more importantly, he never feared a challenge.
However, the Dungeon wasn't a place for duels; he had teammates.
"Let's go, Lefiya!"
"Yes!!"
Pure white magic gathered as the Elf girl raised her staff high. At the same time, Isagi, wielding his greatsword, actively charged toward the opponent.
Suddenly.
It was as if stirring, passionate drums had begun to play. Accompanied by the monster's roar, the battle began in an instant.
[Slash!]
[The Glimmer Knight Who Lost Faith] before him was only about one meter tall—still much taller than a normal Goblin, but far smaller than a human.
Yet, the pale greatsword it held was nearly over three meters long. Although not particularly broad, the blade appeared slender and sharp; saying it could be used as a lance for thrusting wouldn't be an exaggeration.
And at this moment.
As its hands swung the weapon, what Isagi saw was a fleeting flash of small light.
What was that?
Facing the sudden horizontal slash, Isagi had already instinctively jumped back to dodge, leaving the opponent's attack range. But no, something was wrong!!
Isagi noticed the opponent took a tiny step forward, and in the very next instant, the slash transformed from that tiny light arrived in the blink of an eye.
"Clang"!
Almost instinctively, he blocked the blow with the greatsword in his hands, yet the immense force instantly blasted Isagi away, smashing him into the nearby rock wall and blasting out a small, shallow crater.
This guy's attacks... are a half-beat slower than what you actually see?!
He drank the first sip from the Healing Gourd.
By the time he stood up again, the damage he just received had fully recovered.
He dropped the greatsword in his hand.
The Glimmer Knight looked small, but its strength was not a bit weaker than the previous Goblin Guard. Is this the power of "The Kingdom's Strongest Knights"?
So brute force won't work; he had to adopt other tactics. The greatsword in the opponent's hands counted as a long weapon no matter how you looked at it, so its weakness was—
Close combat!
Isagi directly switched to the gauntlets hanging on the side of his waist, equipped with pitch-black knuckles. At the same time, the pure white arrow of light arrived.
"[Arcs Ray]!"
The surging magical bombardment exploded as always, leaving a scorched black mark on the Glimmer Knight's chest. Using the blinding white light of the explosion, Isagi rapidly closed in on the opponent while shouting to the distant Elf girl, who had already drunk a Mind Potion and was preparing her second spell.
"Can you keep bombarding the same spot, Lefiya?"
"Eh?!"
Lefiya possessed three magics, but currently only two offensive ones.
The single-target [Arcs Ray].
And the area-of-effect [Fusillade Fallarica].
Among them, [Arcs Ray] could automatically track enemies, making it practically the best skill for BOSS battles.
So, specifically performing such a precise operation as aiming for a specific spot on a monster to bombard continuously... Lefiya had never tried that before.
"I will try my best!"
"I'm leaving it to you."
While speaking, Isagi had already swiftly arrived in front of the Glimmer Knight!
The speed at which the opponent swung the greatsword wasn't particularly fast.
It was just that, exactly as he had predicted, every one of its attacks was a half-beat slower than what the naked eye and senses perceived.
So...
Isagi recalled the scene when he sensed Anya's movements earlier.
Close your eyes, don't look, and don't listen. Instead, use the body to feel—feel the tactile sensation of the "wind rising" and the "wind stopping."
"!"
A tiny prickling sensation, like a needle point, instantly spread through his whole body. This is it!
Almost perilously, Isagi leaped up just before the slash touched his body, maneuvering and shifting, finally breaking through the Glimmer Knight's sword range!
Then.
He smashed a fist right onto the face of its pale, fully enclosed helmet, which emitted a faint, hollow light from the tiny, grid-like gaps.
"Crack".
A small sound of bone cracking seemed to come from inside.
The trait of the gauntlet weapon "Cotton Candy"—[Internal Force]: every attack deals a certain amount of damage that ignores armor.
But this wasn't enough.
Dodging the hand the Glimmer Knight stretched out to grab him.
Isagi swiftly, like a slippery loach, circled from the front to the back, and then, right at the back of its head, unleashed a Combat Art.
[Elbow Strike]!
Don't ask him why a gauntlet's Combat Art is an elbow strike; he didn't know either.
This special attack, carrying a stun status effect, smashed straight into the back of the Glimmer Knight's head.
And.
As his right elbow fell, Isagi's left hand had already pulled out the Wheelchair Staff he had just obtained, activating its Combat Art, [Glimmer Echo]!
Thus, an arm composed of tiny lights fell once more, delivering a second elbow strike just like the first!!
The continuous Combat Art attacks finally caused the BOSS before him to stagger slightly.
Good chance!
Even if it was just instinct, the Elf girl chanting magic in the distance seized this fleeting opening.
A pure white arrow of light shot out once again.
The target pointed straight at the Glimmer Knight's chest, which had already taken one magic bombardment and was now scorched black.
Lefiya was incredibly serious at this moment.
Although it was her first time actively controlling the flight trajectory of magic that had already been released, combat wasn't about "can I do it," but "I must do it"!
This is the resolve an adventurer should have!!
"Boom"!
Even armor blessed by the Mother Goddess was not some indestructible divine object under the bombardment of a Level 2 Mage.
Amidst the re-emerging blinding white light, pale fragments of armor flew off, and after the light extinguished, it was visible to the naked eye that the Glimmer Knight's chest plate was covered in tiny cracks.
Effective. Just a few more times!
Reality isn't a game.
Fighting this kind of heavy-armored enemy, obviously the most important thing is to "open the can" first! Otherwise, you can't cause any effective damage at all!!
This was also why Isagi used the two-handed greatsword at the start, because among all his weapons, "Great Fortune" with its [Armor Break] trait was the most suitable for dealing with heavy knights.
The gauntlet "Cotton Candy" was the next best choice.
After all, not every attack ignored defense, only a portion of it.
At most, it changed from failing to break defense to "scratching" for chip damage, but who knew how long he'd have to scratch to kill it?
"Again, Lefiya!"
The strategy is working, so we just need to continue!
"Okay!!"
Accompanied by the energetic voice of the Elf girl in the distance, the battle continued.
Isagi continued to use his fists, engaging in a dogfight with the Glimmer Knight. At such close proximity, the greatsword in its hand couldn't even exert half its power, leaving it only able to roar occasionally and attempt to grab him with its hands.
But it was too slow.
It wasn't a zero-frame startup throw, yet it wanted to grab him?!
And with the arrival of the third [Arcs Ray], the Glimmer Knight's chest plate was covered in dense, spiderweb-like cracks, like porcelain about to shatter.
It was reaching its limit.
And it was right at this moment that the Dungeon suddenly trembled again.
No, it was the BOSS in front of him that trembled.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh————"
Phase transition!
Almost instinctively, Isagi quickly distanced himself from the Glimmer Knight, which was roaring in madness.
Then, sure enough, he saw the pale blue fluorescent fire that originally lingered around it as a special effect light source swarm together, converging onto the greatsword in its hands.
In the blink of an eye.
That held-high greatsword, originally covered in dark red blood-rust and filth, transformed into a brilliant galaxy of stars.
"Watch out!!"
The glimmer abruptly exploded outwards, enveloping the entire cavern chamber.
The Elf girl, still chanting magic, stood in place, watching the light shooting toward her. The next second, she was blocked by the figure of the young man before her eyes.
Isagi held the brass greatshield, blocking in front of Lefiya and Anya!
"Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang..."
Dense sounds of collision rang out in the chamber. The glimmer shot like a torrential storm; even with the shield blocking it, the penetrating impact force still made Isagi uncontrollably spit out clotted blood.
Swiftly.
He drank the second sip of the Healing Gourd.
The boy, his status instantly replenished, raised his shield and charged toward the Glimmer Knight not far away the moment the exploded light completely extinguished.
Combat Art, Shield Bash!
In one blow, he smashed the opponent's short body directly onto the ground.
Immediately following that, the Elf girl, who hadn't stopped chanting even when facing the incoming glimmer moments ago, unleashed her magic once again.
"[Arcs Ray]!"
A pure white arrow of light arrived from the heavens, landing precisely—yet again—on the opponent's chest plate.
"Crack".
Within the pure white light, the Blue Moon crest covering that pale armor shattered loudly, revealing the gray-white flesh underneath, full of scars.
And almost simultaneously.
Before Lefiya's magic arrived, Isagi had already leaped high, clearing the attack angle for the Elf girl's light arrow. Closely following that, while his left hand pulled out the short staff to cast [Glimmer Echo] again...
His right hand was placed on the sword hilt at his waist.
This is the end.
Combat Art, [Full Moon Slash]!
The upward-striking Combat Art, accompanied by the attack power increase and acceleration from the [Iai] trait, made that fleeting cold moon much faster than before. This gave Isagi time to perform an even more difficult maneuver.
That was, within the single second that [Glimmer Echo] was active, to use a second Combat Art, striking downward from above!
[Full Moon Slash], Double!!
The cold moon appeared again, alternating up and down with the slash formed by the glimmer, shining brilliantly.
Ultimate Art.
[Twin Moon · Double].
Two moon wheels dissipated one after another, turning into quietly fading glimmer as Isagi sheathed his blade.
The body of [The Glimmer Knight Who Lost Faith] was split into four segments. Isagi removed the massive magic stone revealed within the open flesh of its chest.
The Knight's body then turned to ash and dissipated.
Aside from the magic stone, only its greatsword, covered in dark red blood-rust, remained.
Equipment drop.
Isagi stepped forward and picked it up.
[Glimmer Greatsword:
A massive weapon with a peculiarly strange design; for a Goblin, just looking up at it is extremely difficult.
Only the strongest Knights, forged through a thousand hammers and a hundred refinements, can lift and swing it.
Yet even so, for the Goblins born from darkness, it is nothing more than possessing a tiny bit of unnoticeable glimmer.
Combat Art: Glimmer Slash
· When swung, a repeated slash formed by glimmer will occur one second later, dealing a certain amount of magic damage.
· Light Attribute
(The Blue Moon symbolizes light and fertility.
Goblins believe that only by maintaining the purest and most unwavering adoration for the foreign Saints can they obtain the Mother Goddess's blessing.)]
___
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