[Boss Battle] Ms. Mary At School

Mary brandished a sharp knife. Rather than dodge, she was so sudden and quick that I reflexively swung my knife too.

Clank-! A loud metallic sound echoed through the air.

Ella and Mary are both girl-type monsters.

Even though they are feared, they take the friendly form of little girls, so in ghost stories, such monsters often have weapons that can pose a threat.

Even a child becomes scary when wielding a sharp weapon.

By the way, it doesn't usually give an image of being strong, right?

I was pushed back a lot by the recoil of the deflected attack.

I completely lost in the battle of strength, even with me becoming stronger after absorbing the black fog.

The current Mary is not weakened by the artifact. She's now much stronger than in the game.

My hand is tingling.

"This is pretty extreme, Mary...!"

"Because Ella lied. I hate liars."

Mary beckoned, and the vines in the park responded. They flooded me as if they were alive.

I dodged by moving in an angle used in the game.

However, the number of vines was greater than at that time, so I had to go through the trouble of cutting some of them with my knife.

What does this means?

Thud!

It means that there was no time to avoid another attack.

Mary floated up and rushed at me in an instant, kicking me in the stomach.

I had no choice but to roll on the floor, biting my lip.

"Ella. You got stronger. But you are still weak."

"It... Doesn't even hurt!"

"I see. It's not enough."

Supernatural power began to emanate from Mary.

Then, the ground shakes and a huge sunflower hidden in the park appears.

From the sunflower's head, huge eyes as large as its body were formed, staring at me."

That is Mary's weakness and the symbol of this boss fight.

In the game, every time Mary used her powers, the sunflowers wriggled grotesquely.

The way that it kept staring at the player nonstop was really creepy.

"Can you all help me?"

The phone box left in the boss stage reacted.

The number was dialed by itself, scattering an unsettling energy.

Tiriring... Beep.

Mary asks.

"Hello? Who is it?"

They answered.

[[[Hello!]]]

[I am Satoru.]

[I'm Rika!]

[Me... Momo...]

[[[I'm behind you.]]]

At the same time, the phone monsters appeared behind her.

They are mysterious beings living inside the phone. Perhaps they are ghosts, grim reapers, or other entities.

Ghost stories related to phones are similar but diverse, so the number increases over time.

In the game, 5 is the limit, but with Mary's power now, I don't know how big the limit is.

It's already too much with Mary alone, I can't afford to deal with other monsters.

I decided to get out of the boss stage and run away.

Mirror movement. As long as the mirror I marked exists, I will not be caught and killed.

I slowly moved to the mirror inside the school.

Mary spoke to me in a moment as short as the speed of mirror movement.

She said because I gave her a drink, she would wait a little bit.

...You're going to follow me all the way to school. Damn you kid!

As soon as I arrived at school, I gathered everyone.

I have no choice but to throw cold water at their curious expressions asking what's going on.

"Listen carefully, Mary will attack!"

"So suddenly?!"

"I'm sorry, but that's how it turned out. Somehow, she figured it out and discovered that you guys are here."

Why is Mary targeting people even when Pierrot is staying still? Is it like Pierrot's murderous urge? Feeling the need to take someone's life who isn't even present in front of her?

Probably not. In a previous conversation, she said her wish was to find a specific person and stab them to death.

It looks like she's targeting the children...

"Then what? Shall we fight?"

When Suho asked, I immediately answered.

"No."

I can't let Mary and the kids meet.

It was because Mary's strategy for not being weakened by artifacts wasn't completely planned, and there was no time to explain.

But that doesn't mean we're going to just run away shamefully.

"Mary is a monster who uses the phone as a medium. Ignoring the barrier that prevents the physical intrusion, she will enter the school. If she invades our territory... We must invade hers too."

In other words, a thief in an empty house! Mary's weakness is in the boss room.

Of course, there are monsters there too! But we can't stay still, we have to try...!

"James. Maria. I'm really sorry, but take the artifact and go to the park ahead. It should be marked on the map I gave you. Guys, go and help them too."

"But Ella! Mary is very strong! You alone..."

"You idiot! There is no time for that! You have to avoid having a dog's death..."1

Jinglejinglejinglejingle!

The bells of the Cheshire Cat rings.

The Cheshire Cat's bell is a transparent bell that makes a sound when an unregistered monster is nearby.

Mary arrived at the school.

"Listen. Don't answer the phone! Watch your back! Weakness is a giant sunflower! Get this and go!"

I threw an item at James and turned to where I felt the presence.

Behind me, I heard the sound of the troops led by James and the children running.

I wish you well. Victory is upon you. Because this is just to earn time!

Bangbangbangbang! -Thud.

The gunshots of the soldier dolls were cut off. One precious item flew away...

Thump... Thump... Thump.

A girl with blue eyes appears from the darkness at the end of the corridor.

Wearing a hat with sunflowers growing on it, she stares at me with a blank expression.

She greeted me.

"Hello Ella."

"...Yes, hello Mary."

It was me who moved first.

"Now go away!"

Clank-!

I didn't want James to be caught going out, so I pushed with all my might.

This time, with a sharp sound... Mary was pushed away.

'It's lighter than I thought...?'

Mary also tilted her head in confusion.

...Indeed, Mary's characteristics seems to follow the patterns in the game.

It's difficult to time attacks because she flies around.

At the same time, Mary's direct attacks are rare.

Instead, attack patterns caused by various monsters and traps appears randomly on the stage.

The strategy is to hit the flying Mary or attack the giant sunflower in the midst of the crazy attacks.

And so, Mary outside the stage has monotonous attacks and her strength is greatly weakened because the sunflower she shares life with is far away.

...Since the kids aren't here, can I use some profanity?

"You're dead, bitch!!"

"Oh...!"

I was furious.

When I went to contact Pierrot, she attacked me...! I really thought I was going to die!

I continued to push Mary with momentum.

However, Mary started to dodge my attacks by floating slightly.

"You called me an idiot!"

"Ella is an idiot."

The shape of a phone appeared behind Mary.

Tiriring-!

The ringing of the phone fills my head.

Not only the air, but my head began to vibrate too.

Mary's wide-area skill that explodes the head, and the curse of instant death.

"How many times do you think I died for this pattern?"

Now that there are no other attacks interfering, there is a way to cancel the curse even without Eun-jeong's bell.

I took out the mirror attached to the hem of my skirt and the mirror attached to my chest and threw it.

And finally, I threw my knife at high speed.

The objects thrown at almost the same speed seemed threatening, so Mary avoided them all.

One mirror is behind Mary and the other is next to her.

The moment Mary dodged the knife, it went inside of the mirror behind and came out from the mirror next to her.

"...!"

This is the method I used when I redirected the train to the radio head demon. Creating a portal connecting the mirrors.

Crash!

The knife smashed Mary's phone to pieces. The remains of the phone fell with a thud. The curse was also stopped.

With such a wide-range instant-kill attack, it should be easily evaded for balancing. It can't just overpower the player like that.

"...That's impressive, Ella."

"Right, why don't you go back now? There are no people here. Especially the person you're looking for!"

"I see..."

Surprisingly, she smoothly backed off.

"But I think Ella will have to go out too."

"?!"

Before I could ask what that meant, something grabbed my ankle. I was surprised and cut it off.

A green stem.

It's a vine... Why is this here...?

I belatedly noticed that a sunflower was blooming in the corner of my field of vision that had been narrowed from swinging the knife.

Sunflowers, vines and phone boxes were growing all over the school.

They greedily took up space as if they were eroding the school.

I looked at the playground through the window.

There were sunflower stalks. Huge sunflower stalks.

"Nonsense. Is this possible?"

The school is turning into Mary's stage.