The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker, Vol. 7, page 14
Sensing the combination meant nothing but bad news, the Altargeist squeezed in an evasion skill—and split in two before Theresia’s eyes. If she missed her next strike, the chain of attacks would break and put us at risk of counterattacks. Meanwhile, the status ailment the Altargeist had inflicted on Igarashi kept her out of commission.
And yet Theresia did not back down. Brilliant light exploded from her hands; I could’ve sworn I saw blue butterflies fluttering around them.
♦Current Status♦
> THERESIA activated BUTTERFLY FROLIC Increased number of attacks
> THERESIA activated AZURE SLASH Hit ALTARGEIST 2 times
Weak spot attack
Stun state extended
Combined attack stage 3
> ALTARGEIST was Burned
“—!!”
“OHHH…!”
“D-do your thiiiing!”
Graceful as a dancer, Theresia unleashed two virtually simultaneous flaming blue slashes to keep the chain going. As the Altargeist recoiled in pain, Misaki flung her cards at it and gave a battle cry.
♦Current Status♦
> MISAKI activated ICE JOKER Angered ALTARGEIST
Inflicted ALTARGEIST with ice attribute weakness
Stun state extended
Combined attack stage 4
> Combined attack FROLIC, DOUBLE, AZURE, BURN, JOKER Inflicted additional damage
Burn intensified
> ALTARGEIST activated REVENANT REGRETS Canceled status ailments
Obtained extra time
> ALTARGEIST prepared to activate SARCOPHAGUS
I saw two very different scenes unfold. In one, my friends and I rejoiced moments after defeating the Altargeist. But in the other—we were still as statues on the lake’s shore; every last one of us was dead.
“Begone, ghost…!”
♦Current Status♦
> SERAPHINA activated AURA SHIELD
> ICE REMNANT A activated COLD HAND
> SERAPHINA activated COUNTER TACKLE Hit ICE REMNANT A
Weak spot attack
ICE REMNANT A was Stunned
> ICE REMNANT B activated QUICK SPELL for ALTARGEIST Shortened period until SARCOPHAGUS can be activated
Seraphina slammed her aura-covered shield into Ice Remnant A, sending it flying; however, she could not stop the remaining ghoul. But I’d already made my move, preparing to take full advantage of the new weak spot Misaki’s wild cards had carved out for us. I activated Tactical Reload, drew my slingshot as fast as I could, and fired.
“Freeze!”
♦Current Status♦
> ARIHITO activated TACTICAL RELOAD All party members recovered magic
> ARIHITO activated FORCE SHOT: FREEZE
> ALTARGEIST activated SARCOPHAGUS Sacrificed 2 ICE REMNANTS
Only a split second separated my attack and the Altargeist’s—and cemented the winner of this battle. The ghoul’s flickering frame was engulfed in an unearthly aura; the next moment, the specter began emitting gray gas.
But then:
♦Current Status♦
> FORCE SHOT: FREEZE hit ALTARGEIST
Critical hit
2 weak spot attacks
ALTARGEIST was completely Frozen
ALTARGEIST was Stunned
> SARCOPHAGUS activation canceled
> Defeated 2 ICE REMNANTS
> Seal on ELITIA lifted
Made it…just in time…!
Blessed by the Holy attribute and powered by my frost stone, my slingshot’s magic bullets froze the incorporeal monster into an icy statue, a blurry mass about my height. Then the two Ice Remnants evaporated into thin air like lifting fog, dropping two magic stones to the ground.
I guess the Altargeist was sucking out all their energy to make its final move.
“Haaah, haaaah…!”
“Are you okay, Igarashi…?!”
“Don’t… Atobe, stay away from me…!”
“E-easy for you to say…! Suzu, can’t you exorcise Kyouka or something to heal her?” Misaki frantically asked.
That’s when it hit me. “…That’s right! Suzuna, that skill might just work…!”
One of her available skills, Purge, had the power to reduce the effects of any status ailments that constrained someone’s movements, if I remembered correctly.
“It’s a gamble, but I have a feeling it should work against a phantom-type monster’s status ailment…,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll try it…!”
She readily agreed and went to acquire the skill—but then…
Our heads all turned in the same direction. Unbeknownst to us amid the dank air that blew over the lakeshore, something had appeared—a mysterious, sword-wielding figure clad in tattered rags, its face hidden beneath a skull-like mask.
“My license doesn’t say we’ve encountered a monster, but…,” I started.
No matter how you sliced it, the vibes that thing sent our way were anything but friendly.
Clasping her Scarlet Emperor, Elitia prepared to engage in battle. “Looks like it’s not going to let us past without a fight… On your guard, everyone.”
“Cion, take Igarashi somewhere safe. Suzuna, please, try that Purge out on her,” I instructed, but the dangers to our party if we lingered too long divided from one another weighed heavily on my mind—we had to get out of here as soon as possible.
At this point, only Seraphina, Elitia, Theresia, Misaki, and I could stand to fight. I felt bad for leaving Madoka hanging in her hiding spot, but I wanted to keep her free to help us recover after the battle. We stood five against one, but the unsettling stance this skull-masked figure took told me all too clearly we could not let our guard down against it.
Part IV: The Skull Scarecrow
Based on what we’d seen so far, there was a good chance this enemy belonged to a similar phantasmic genre. Elitia, having come to the same conclusion, called out to Suzuna before she left for Igarashi’s side.
“Suzuna, could you cast Sacred Words on my blade?”
“Yes, of course.”
Suzuna activated Sacred Words, prepared to bless Elitia’s sword with the Holy attribute just in case. But then—
♦Current Status♦
> SUZUNA activated SACRED WORDS Target: ELITIA
Ineffective on cursed weapons
—the white inscription rose to the blade’s surface, only to fade and vanish without a trace.
“…I’m so sorry, Ellie. Let me try again…”
“No, it’s fine… This just means we’ve been on the right track. If I want to attack ghosts with this blade, I’ll have to rely on Arihito’s support.”
“Yeah, you got it,” I said. “The Sacred Words should still be working on me, so I think I’ll be able to support you.”
“Mr. Arihito, allow me to deflect the first blow and gauge the situation…”
♦Current Status♦
> ?SCARECROW activated LOWER STANCE Evasion rate and probability of landing critical hit increased
“…It appears to employ a type of swordsmanship I’ve never seen before,” Seraphina noted cautiously.
At first glance, the flimsy way the Scarecrow lifted its sword made it seem extremely vulnerable. But it had activated a skill—and that meant something hid up its ragged sleeve.
“I hate to say it, but… looking at this thing reminds me of that…,” Elitia said, her face tight with nerves.
She was right; the skull mask inevitably evoked the image of the grim reaper, which in turn dredged up memories of the Merciless Guillotine’s devastating skill that stripped away your soul with a single swipe—Soul-Stealing Scythe.
“All righty, then… Arihito, I’m goin’ in with a Lucky Seven! Might not work, but it can’t hurt!”
Fishing out two dice, Misaki placed one on each of her thumbs and flipped them in the air, catching them between her fingers as they fell. In that same flash, I shot Theresia a look.
“Theresia, I’ve got a favor to ask. When Elitia goes in for the attack…”
“……”
“And the winning number is…!”
♦Current Status♦
> MISAKI activated DICE TRICK
> MISAKI activated LUCKY SEVEN 1 Success
> ?SCARECROW’S status ailment resistance fell
She did it…!
“All right, everyone, I’ll get us rolling! Watch out for how it times its attacks!”
““Okay!””
“……!”
♦Current Status♦
> ARIHITO activated FORCE SHOT: FREEZE Hit ?SCARECROW
?SCARECROW was Frozen
> ?SCARECROW activated THE QUIET LIFE Canceled Frozen status
Recovered status ailment resistance
The Scarecrow froze, only to melt the very next second. Its body shone so brightly, you’d think it was a bright, sunny day instead of this hazy twilight.
Looks like all the monsters have skills to cancel status ailments… We need something else to keep the Frozen status going long enough so it can’t undo it…!
“Haaaaaah!”
“Seraphina, I’ll support you!”
♦Current Status♦
> ARIHITO activated ATTACK SUPPORT 2 Support Type: FORCE SHOT: STUN
> SERAPHINA activated AURA SHIELD and DEFENSE FORCE
> SERAPHINA activated SHIELD SLAM Target: ?SCARECROW
> ?SCARECROW activated WILLOW WIND Deflected SHIELD SLAM
“Wha—?!” Seraphina blurted out in surprise.
The one-legged Scarecrow lithely twisted itself like a wispy willow branch to deflect all the force with which Seraphina had charged at it, shield readied to attack.
“Ahhh!”
Slowed by the weight of her shield as she tried to turn on the spot, Seraphina let out a spirited cry. Even that would not help her face the Scarecrow before its next move.
“Get away from her…!”
♦Current Status♦
> ELITIA activated SONIC BLADE
> ?SCARECROW canceled attack
> ELITIA activated BLOSSOM BLADE Target: ?SCARECROW
> ?SCARECROW activated WILD SWORD DANCE Target: BLOSSOM BLADE
“Ngh…!”
Elitia shot toward the Scarecrow, instantly closing the distance between them and unleashing the first of her multistrike barrage. The masked specter repurposed the attack it had meant for Seraphina as defense, whipping the sword it wielded so loosely directly at her blade to drive it back.
“Raaaah!”
♦Current Status♦
> ELITIA continued BLOSSOM BLADE
> ?SCARECROW continued WILD SWORD DANCE Target: BLOSSOM BLADE
One after another Elitia rained down an onslaught of slashes at the Scarecrow, but the grim straw man alternated between the swords in either of its hands and rebuffed every one of her twelve strikes, including the extra attacks activated by her Dexterity Gauntlets. Cold light shone from the hollow eyes in its skull mask. Elitia stopped, as always momentarily unable to command her body into action after finishing her Blossom Blade.
♦Current Status♦
> ?SCARECROW activated VORPAL WEAPON Unlocked PILGRIM’S DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
Its swords are transforming… Is that even possible…?!
The two blades in the Scarecrow’s hands began to transform—one melded into the other to create a thick longsword, which then began to vibrate and emit a low moan.
We’d never survive even one strike from this sword.
My worry seemed to transmit telepathically to Theresia, who had completely concealed her presence as she patiently awaited her time to strike.
“……!”
♦Current Status♦
> THERESIA activated SNEAK ATTACK Damage to ?SCARECROW doubled
> THERESIA activated BUTTERFLY FROLIC Increased number of attacks
> THERESIA activated AZURE SLASH Hit ?SCARECROW 1 time
Critical hit
?SCARECROW was Stunned
“……!”
With her Active Stealth, Theresia secured the perfect spot directly behind the Scarecrow and unleashed what should have been a series of decisive, deadly blows. And yet the straw man reacted just in time, dipping and dodging every slash Theresia threw at it so quickly, she left afterimages in her wake. Nevertheless, and with great effort, her last blow found its mark.
“……”
Blazing brightly with the blue flame stone’s fire, her sword left a gash in the Scarecrow’s mask.
♦Current Status♦
> ?SCARECROW deactivated VORPAL WEAPON
> ?SCARECROW abandoned battle stance
From the looks of it, Theresia’s slash hadn’t deeply injured the Scarecrow. Even so, it split its moaning double-edged sword back into two, sheathed them both, and silently stared at us.
“…A-Arihitooo… Think it’s throwing in the towel…?”
“If it’s really stopped fighting…there must be a reason. Maybe because Theresia landed a hit?”
The hostility we’d all felt deep in our bones had disappeared entirely. Still tightly clutching the Scarlet Emperor, Elitia glared at the straw man. But faced with an enemy who now seemed to bear us no ill will, she eventually lowered her blade.
“…My Blossom Blade couldn’t… If I don’t activate Red Eye, I…,” she muttered quietly after returning her sword to its scabbard.
The Scarecrow had rebuffed Elitia’s most powerful attack, rejecting fifteen slashes total with only two blades.
Worried how Elitia would react to the hard truth her sword clearly didn’t work on all monsters in District Five, I called out to her.
“Elitia…”
At that, she turned around and smiled, looking much less discouraged than I’d feared.
“I’ll have to think about it later. Even Kyouka had a rough time… I need to get stronger—but I already knew that. This only drove that point home.”
“…I see. You’re really tough, Elitia.”
“…Don’t go complimenting me when I just admitted I’m too weak. I’m not the type to grow with undue praise, Arihito.”
Suzuna approached as we spoke. Purge had evidently had some effect on Igarashi, who lay limply on Cion’s back, apparently out cold.
“Arihito, I managed to slightly alleviate Kyouka’s status ailment, but I couldn’t entirely expel it.”
“Thanks, Suzuna. We’re better off preparing as many antidotes to status ailments as possible, so I’m sure Purge will come in handy again soon.”
“Arihito, should I hand out some medicine to everyone?” Madoka piped up.
“Yeah, but can you give me just a… Hmmm?”
♦Current Status♦
> MADOKA grew to level 5
“Ah… R-right, while you were all fighting so bravely, I gave the frozen monster a Permanence potion. The next thing I knew, I got this huge bump in experience points…”
“Permanence… I didn’t know such a thing existed.”
“I-I’m sorry, I know I should’ve asked, but I thought it might come in handy and bought it one day when I was waiting at home.”
♦Inferior PERMANENCE Potion♦
> Potion that applies the same effect as the skill PERMANENCE.
> Extends the target’s status ailment in correspondence with the user’s skill level. Only applies to certain status ailments.
> Success rate increases the more the target’s vitality decreases. Normally succeeds at a very low rate.
I had Madoka hand me the potion so I could take a better look. The label marked it an “inferior” product, but it seemed to work quite well as long as it activated successfully.
“I’m really sorry. I know I should’ve asked for permission, but it’s just a junk potion so I thought it might be okay…”
“Don’t be. I was just hoping we could get our hands on something like that,” I told her. “A potion that works like a skill… Do you know how these are made?”
“Y-yes. Apparently, you can only use potions to activate certain types of magical skills, and you need to have someone who can use Magic Medicine Creation, like a Pharmacist or Alchemist, to make it for you.”
“I see… So they sell these kinds of special medicines as junk items, huh?”
This potion looked like it had one more dose left. Now that I knew Madoka had gained so much experience by using this kind of item during an expedition, I figured it would be a good idea to keep an eye out for and buy all sorts of medicines or tools she could handle.
“Do buy anything else like this you see whenever you can… But I guess I didn’t need to tell you that. Thanks for being on top of this, Madoka. You’re a great help.”
“Thank you so much! I’ll do my best!” She instantly perked up. “…Ah! A-Arihito…”
The Scarecrow was pointing at us—no, something behind us.
“The Altargeist…?”
That something: the frozen Altargeist. Its finger still extended toward the icy statue, the Scarecrow looked in our direction.
“Is that somehow special? Is that why you stopped fighting us…?”
Surprisingly, the Scarecrow nodded in response—only to then shake its head. The mixed message almost threw me for a loop, but I tried my hand at interpreting it anyway: Yes, but also no.
“Does it want that ice statue…? What for?”
“…If you promise not to attack us anymore, I’m open to negotiate,” I said. “Is that what you want?”
