Like Goblins, Kobolds are filthy and ugly Monsters.
Even the "special Kobolds" Isagi had seen before, maliciously enhanced by the Dungeon, were fundamentally unsightly to an extreme.
Matted, dirty, and sparse fur; a bare, gaunt body; skin covered in sores and spots...
To be honest.
Even Goblins looked cleaner, cuter, and more handsome than them.
This was also a fact, because, according to Akshi, both races were Monsters born from the most distant "Borderlands," yet they had walked completely opposite paths.
"Kobolds are beasts!"
"They devour the flesh and blood of their own kind, sweeping clean anything that can be swallowed, all to make themselves bigger and stronger...."
They were conquered by the Goblins during a dark age that preceded the "dark times" brought by the Pale King to the royal capital.
Cowardly, weak, despicable, and shameless, the Goblins, who banded together to form tribes and the prototype of a kingdom, set traps, lured the Kobolds into killing each other, and then reaped the benefits. They used every means at their disposal to encircle and tame the powerful Kobolds one by one.
"These guys... took... took the wrong path."
Akshi, having been set down from Tiona's greatsword, struggled to lift the faceplate of his helmet, trying his best to pour out the sparse filth and mucus from inside while still laboriously delivering his "lines."
What should have been a very serious moment was somehow turned into a bit of a comedy act. Isagi and Tiona both silently looked away, wondering if they had gone a little too far just now.
"To obey the instincts of the flesh... to become a beast... so... so what... The King is correct... The strong are those who can control their own bestial nature and instincts."
"Adventurers, crush the final hope of these ignorant fools! Make them understand that the flesh can never triumph over the spirit of the strong!"
"Blech!"
Such cool words, if not accompanied by a series of retching sounds, would have been a decent pre-boss fight monologue.
It seemed Akshi was about to vomit up his stomach acid.
Being constantly swung around as a weapon by the Amazon girl, in that "big windmill go spinny spin spin," Tiona had her fun. After all, every warrior with a greatsword dreams of doing a whirlwind slash.
But for the tiny Goblin, it was a hundred times more thrilling than any amusement park's pendulum ride, pirate ship, or drop tower.
But even so.
Tiona quickly and mercilessly tied him up tightly with a rope again, then tossed him directly into a nearby corner.
Mainly to prevent the guy from running around.
After finishing all this, the girl, greatsword in hand, tacitly and silently entered a combat stance alongside Isagi and Lefiya.
Unlike their previous adventures.
This time, Tiona was the vanguard while he was the mid-guard, responsible for covering the two girls. The reason was simple: the Amazon girl had no ranged attacks, while he had a greatbow.
An arrow was nocked to the string.
With a sharp, piercing sound of air being torn apart.
Tiona's figure vanished from her spot. Then, almost simultaneously with the arrow he fired, she arrived before the Meat Cup Princess, one after the other.
The Amazon girl's blade, even faster than the arrow, touched her opponent's body.
Whether against "humans" or "Monsters," it was the first time the Amazon girl had felt such a strange feedback from the blade in her hand.
It was like sinking into dense water—light and airy, with no sense of solid impact whatsoever.
Moreover, it couldn't advance even half an inch.
"!"
Tiona had already discovered that her greatsword could only leave a shallow mark on the opponent's body surface.
With a few flecks of flesh drifting down.
For the first time, the girl began to wonder if there was a problem with her weapon.
But that couldn't be right!
Although it was only a Second-Grade weapon, the "Blade of Roland" in Tiona's hand was forged by the captain of the Hephaestus Familia, Tsubaki, the only lv.5 blacksmith in the city.
No matter the Monster, under its edge and her strength, it should have been cleaved in two.
That was the origin of the girl's title, "Great Cleaver."
"Hiss!"
If one slash didn't work, then do another.
Tiona wasn't the type to get hung up on things. Anyway, no matter what kind of Monster it was, as long as she kept slashing, she would eventually cut it down!
However.
When the girl swung her sword again, the situation changed.
The Meat Cup Princess's slender left hand suddenly swelled up like some kind of cyst. Blood and flesh surged and intertwined, forming a small shield.
"Tch!"
It was still a somewhat muffled and unsubstantial sound.
The shield made purely of flesh and blood blocked the arrow Isagi shot over, and at the same time, it blocked Tiona's subsequent storm-like slashes!
Pinkish flecks of flesh danced in the air.
Tiona saw the Meat Cup Princess's brow furrow slightly.
It seemed dissatisfied with being purely on the defensive, so its right hand transformed into a long blade of flesh and blood, slashing straight towards her.
A crisp cracking sound echoed.
The moment the blade and flesh collided, Tiona also heard her own bones creaking.
What incredible strength!
Is this thing a giant like Goliath?!
She looked at the Monster before her in disbelief. It was clearly only a little over two meters tall, its perfectly humanoid body full of a woman's slender and graceful beauty.
Completely different from those filthy and ugly Kobolds.
As the hope of her race, the Meat Cup Princess possessed all the beauty that the Kobolds yearned for.
Amidst her tender skin, which was white with a rosy tint, a strange, faint fragrance even overpowered the stench of blood and rot that had filled the pit.
Upon her smooth, completely bare body.
Only spots of deep red blood covered her undulating parts.
The only thing different from a "human" was her head, which was entirely "canine." But even so, beneath the flowing, silver-white, waist-length fur, that dog head presented an ineffable beauty.
It was truly beautiful.
This was Tiona's honest thought.
Even if completely different from humans, whether dogs or cats, they could have handsome or beautiful appearances, perhaps even more so than people.
On this point.
Isagi actually understood better.
Holy crap, this is the dream dog of a top-tier furry! Just the sight of the Meat Cup Princess standing there, a few random screenshots would be enough to keep those furry fanatics occupied for an entire day!!!
Maybe more than a day.
But Isagi wasn't a furry, so he just continued to draw his bow and take aim at the creature's head.
With the boost from "Sword Saint's Esoterica."
Although Isagi hadn't practiced archery much, he was still fairly accurate at this distance.
Of the three iron arrows he fired in succession, one landed precisely on the Meat Cup Princess's head, which was shaped like a perfect, long, crescent moon.
But.
It didn't penetrate.
Although the arrow sank into the side of her snout, it was quickly flicked off, like a poorly thrown dart.
At the same time, Lefiya's first spell finished chanting.
The Elf girl didn't start with a high-cost, wide-area spell. Instead, she first tried using [Arcs Ray] to find the opponent's weakness.
Thus, a pure white arrow of light, trailing a long tail, traced a brilliant arc through the air and also landed on the Meat Cup Princess's head.
A flash of white light.
But the result still had no effect; it didn't even leave a single mark on her beautiful dog head.
Tiona, who was currently clashing blades with the Meat Cup Princess.
Could see it more clearly.
She clearly saw that both Isagi's arrow and Lefiya's magic had only shaved off a few flecks of flesh from the opponent's face.
And then.
The girl saw that beneath the Meat Cup Princess's long and beautiful eyelashes, her pale pink eyes always held a certain sorrowful expression.
And so.
It spread its wings.
"?"
"?"
"?"
Isagi and the girls all had the same thought almost simultaneously, a big question mark appearing in their minds. They thought, 'Girl, are you super sensitive too?!'
How did you enter phase two right after the fight started?!
The wings, formed by twisting flesh and blood, were ugly to an extreme compared to the Meat Cup Princess's body.
But that didn't matter.
Because wings are fine as long as they can fly.
Tiona only felt the space before her suddenly empty, a gust of wind rose, and then the boss she had been clashing blades with was gone.
Because it had flown towards Isagi!
So fast!
But still a bit slower than that dummy Anya!!
The moment the Meat Cup Princess grew wings, Isagi had already swapped the greatbow in his hands for a greatsword and blocked the opponent's instantaneous surprise attack!
In terms of straight-line speed.
The Meat Cup Princess was still far inferior to the lv.4 peak dumb cat.
The immense force transmitted from the blade was also within a range he could withstand. It seemed that efficiently finishing off those Kobolds in phase one and damaging the Meat Cup Queen had been effective.
The boss before him was not at its strongest!
However.
The Meat Cup Princess, flying in the air, wielded the long blade of flesh her right hand had become, executing a series of gorgeous and continuous slashes like a fluttering butterfly.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... Isagi had long anticipated the boss's berserker rage, so he wasn't feeling much of anything right now.
However, something unexpected still happened.
Mid-combo, the Meat Cup Princess suddenly vanished again. In a flash, she had appeared before Lefiya and then, facing the Elf girl, resumed the combo that had just been interrupted.
?!
Sharing the love, everyone gets a piece, is that it?!
In response to this.
Lefiya, who had started running to create distance when the boss approached, did not panic. She remained very calm and quickly cast a very short-range defensive spell.
"Raise the cup as a shield, vine of evil's bane!"
A sky-blue magic shield appeared out of thin air, blocking all of the Meat Cup Princess's slashes.
The defensive power of [Dio Grail] was simply astonishing!
This also brought a sigh of relief to Isagi and Tiona, who were rushing towards Lefiya.
It made the Elf girl puff out her already quite full chest with a little pride—she was no longer someone who always needed Mr. Isagi's protection!
This was a huge step for Lefiya in achieving her dream—to become a powerful adventurer who could protect the boy!!
But just as the boy and the Amazon girl watched the boss, helpless against Lefiya hiding behind her magic shield, and prepared for it to fly back...
Since it was a combo that shared the love, then Tiona had to be next, right?
But that wasn't it at all. The Meat Cup Princess's next target was actually Akshi, who had been thrown into the corner!!
The tiny Goblin in golden armor had been wriggling on the ground, trying to hide in a dark corner, when he suddenly found the boss right in front of him.
"Ahhh!!!"
A piercing scream rang out.
It was accompanied by the clang of metal as the blade of flesh struck the golden armor.
Such a crisp sound.
Even crisper than when Tiona and Isagi had clashed blades with the Meat Cup Princess.
The sharp flesh blade fell repeatedly upon the brilliant golden armor, so fast that it left afterimages, but even so, Akshi was completely unharmed.
Holy crap!
Isagi and the girls were all stunned!!
The golden armor on the tiny Goblin was actually that durable?!
Could it be that the thing was truly "Godly Equipment"?
If they hadn't just clashed blades with the Meat Cup Princess and known how painful a critical hit from that heavy slash would be!
He would have suspected that this boss hadn't eaten, or that it was all show and no substance!
Or perhaps, Isagi even speculated, could it be that by forcibly bringing it into the boss room, he had caused some kind of "bug"?
But thinking about it, the tiny Goblin had lines after seeing the boss. It even gave him and the girls hints on how to beat the boss.
Perhaps, it wasn't supposed to follow them down to the bottom of the pit, but rather shout loudly from above?
After all, NPCs give hints, but they don't necessarily join the battle.
Reasonable!
Everything instantly became reasonable!
Moreover, Akshi, who was currently curled up on the ground enduring the heavy blows, even had the time to continue reciting his "lines"!
"Every part of the body has its limits. Continuous attacks will cause it to break. This is the essence of blood and flesh that the Kobolds believe in..."
Still speaking in riddles.
Fortunately, this riddle wasn't hard to understand.
In other words, they needed to constantly attack the Meat Cup Princess's wings, arms, or legs.
It was a boss with a "limb destruction" mechanic. By continuously attacking, they could break one of its body parts.
Without wings, it can't fly. Without hands, it can't attack.
Got it!
And now was a good opportunity!
As the Meat Cup Princess unleashed a furious assault on the Goblin—seemingly continuing the hatred the Lightless King and the War Shadows had for Goblins—it was plain to see that, as the last hope of the Kobolds, the speed and force with which the boss swung its flesh blade had increased by a great deal.
And now, it wasn't targeting him or the girls. If this wasn't a good opportunity, what was?!
Isagi gripped his greatsword and charged towards the opponent with Tiona.
They unleashed a barrage of attacks on the Meat Cup Princess from behind!
Accompanied by magic from Lefiya, a flurry of flesh flecks immediately filled the air—and now, the boy and the girls knew that these falling flecks were proof that the boss was losing health.
"Focus attacks on her wings first!"
As the commander, Isagi issued the supreme directive. After all, this thing was always floating around in the air. Although it didn't fly high, and he and Tiona could reach it without jumping, it was still really annoying.
As the battle continued.
The Meat Cup Princess continued to dart back and forth between the three of them and the Goblin, looking like some kind of "Alpha Strike"!
Flying in mid-air, it would slash one target a few times, then another a few times!
There was no pattern to it.
One moment it was slashing the Goblin, the next it might switch to the Elf girl, then immediately turn back to slash the Goblin, and then suddenly whirl around to fiercely attack the boy behind it.
The Meat Cup Princess's attacks were incredibly swift.
It forced Lefiya to concentrate fully, ready to raise her magic shield at any moment, leaving her no time to chant offensive spells.
But that was enough.
Because right now, the Elf girl just needed to take hits, same as the Goblin.
The burden of dealing damage fell entirely on Isagi and Tiona.
Isagi also gradually discovered that the Meat Cup Princess seemed to have a hidden "mechanic": there seemed to be a "cap" on the amount of single-instance damage it could take.
He experimentally switched his greatsword for a longsword.
As his attack speed and number of hits increased, the amount of flesh "flakes" visibly increased. Even those malformed fleshy wings had already shrunk by a size under his and the Amazon girl's relentless attacks.
If that's the case.
Isagi decisively began dual-wielding daggers and started to furiously thrust, thrust, thrust!
Hah!
With both hands, he forcefully plunged the daggers in his hands into the Meat Cup Princess's waist, complemented by the repetition of the combat art [Glimmer Echo] and the bonus from the development ability [Consecutive Hits].
Isagi's hands moved in and out as fast as lightning!!
The flesh "flakes" visibly increased again and became more urgent, changing from cotton floating down at five centimeters per second to a drizzling, dense spring rain.
Tiona was also inspired.
She sheathed her greatsword, the [Blade of Roland], and then started swinging her fists and feet, beginning her favorite and most skilled mixed martial arts session!
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The Amazon girl was used to fighting bare-handed.
However, Isagi still found a moment to toss his personal knuckle dusters, "Marshmallow," to her. Although he didn't know how much it would increase her damage, equipping a weapon was better than not equipping one, right?
Isagi even discovered another "trick," calling Lefiya over to his and Tiona's side.
He told her to just maintain her magic shield at all times and not to stray too far from him.
At the same time.
The three of them still surrounded the Goblin, Akshi.
Because of the close proximity, the high-speed mobility advantage the Meat Cup Princess originally had from flying was completely nullified.
It just instinctively kept turning, swinging its blade at the target in front of it, but always exposing its back to the others.
[In the end, it's just a beast with a human form but no intelligence.]
And without a doubt.
This boss fight, due to the increase in "numbers," had become much simpler.
If Isagi were challenging it alone, he probably wouldn't have had many opportunities to fight back under its frenzied combo slashes.
See!
It's logical!!
In an online game boss fight, the more NPCs you bring, the easier the battle becomes.
Of course, the prerequisite is that the guys you bring can at least withstand the boss's attacks, just like Lefiya and the tiny Goblin now. If they were instantly one-shot, then they would be completely useless.
___
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