Chapter 148

During a dauntingly difficult battle.

No matter what game you're in, what's the recommended strategy?

"Skip the pattern and go for a one-hit kill, duh."

Shut down the enemy's complicated pattern at its source and, in the exposed gap, pour in a massive amount of damage as quickly as possible to bring things to an end.

This is a typical trick used broadly in everything from MMORPGs to action games.

Junior's ultimate skill [Elemental Disassembly] made this possible.

Ironically, the boss monster itself provided the idea for this ultimate skill.

Anyway, thanks to that, Celendion was rendered completely incapable of using any magic or skills, and in addition, his magic defense dropped below 0, making him very vulnerable.

Now, it's time to beat the shit out of him.

Blink-

Boom!

Jupiter, who launched that monumental first strike, fell back with a satisfied expression.

"..."

I didn't look in that direction. I bit my lips hard, controlling my emotions. The war wasn't over yet.

You've worked hard, my soldier.

The only way I can repay your dedication is just one thing.

To put an end to this vampire bastard forever.

"Guys-!"

I screamed at my party members surrounding Celendion with all my might.

"Fuck him up!"

Roaaaar-!

As if they'd all been waiting for the signal, they gripped their weapons and rushed at Celendion.

Celendion, with his magic stats in the negatives, quickly revealed his core even to a weak magical attack.

The party members brought out his core by their respective means and shattered it into pieces.

Kill him.

If he doesn't die after being killed once, kill him twice.

If he doesn't die after being killed twice, kill him three times.

Four times, five times, six times, seven times, eight times, nine times-

In an instant, Celendion's death count entered double digits.

"Keuhuk-?!"

Even as his body was disassembled and reassembled, Celendion was frantically moving his eyes.

He seemed to be searching for a solution to turn the situation around.

"Stupid bastard."

If from the beginning, you hadn't monopolized all the lives and revived your fallen subordinates to fight with you. We might have lost.

But Celendion chose to fight us alone, hoarding all the spare lives for himself.

It was the same in the game.

Once the last of Celendion's minions fell, he started using the remaining lives of the legion for himself.

Unaware that this was the point where he got his own strategy turned against him.

"You've been heralded as the lord of the legion, but no, you're not a leader."

There's no way out.

As Celendion's defeat became more apparent, I spat out my words coldly towards his face.

"You're just... a thoughtless kid playing king alone."

Lucas's sword bent him.

Evangeline's lance pierced him.

Damien's arrow lodged in him.

Godhand and Bodybag drove extra silver stakes into him.

Burnout took Oldgirl and Skull's weapons and alternated firing.

The three tanks of the Old Hunters, despite their critical injuries, shoved the ancient weapon into him.

Lilly threw a fireball.

Lilly brought in three pre-loaded magic cannons and fired them one by one.

Lilly dragged in a fire spraying artifact... no, stop there! How many times are you going to kill him alone!

...

After the reserve party members each had a turn at killing Celendion.

It was Lucas's turn again to kill him when a new participant climbed up from beneath the walls.

"Your Majesty..."

The vice commander of the Twilight Battalion approached, grinding his teeth.

His face, covered in a blood-soaked bandage, was filled with deep anger.

"Will you give us a chance as well?"

I nodded readily.

"Of course."

It's always more fun to gang up on a boss mob.

The surviving members of the Twilight Battalion were handed extra silver weapons by the party members.

The soldiers rushed at Celendion with a roar filled with hatred.

Regular soldiers who had lost their comrades also started climbing up from beneath the wall one by one. I nodded to them.

There are still plenty of silver weapons left.

This bastard still has many lives left.

"You vermin! Dare- cough!"

The mouth kept going till the end, that bastard.

So, Celendion kept dying, dying, and dying again.

***

All good things must come to an end.

Around the time we killed Celendion about a hundred times, I noticed the white ring floating above his head starting to fade.

The duration of [Elemental Disassembly] was about to end.

"Looks like our happy dog time is nearing its end. Junior's magic is wearing off."

At my words, Lucas looked at me with a perplexed expression.

"Eh? But we haven't killed that bastard yet."

The bastard still had about fifty lives left.

But it would be impossible to kill him fifty times in the remaining time. Physically, we just don't have enough time.

"Hahaha...!"

Having noticed our predicament, Celendion let out a weary laugh.

"Seems like this is it, humans."

"…"

"But you really did well. There weren't many even in ancient times who have pushed me this far—"

"What the hell are you blabbering about, you dumbass?"

I let out a snicker.

"Just because the magic is wearing off, did I say we ran out of ways to kill you?"

"What..."

I crouched quietly in front of Celendion, meeting his gaze.

Junior's [Elemental Disassembly] is a skill that can drop the target's magic power stat to 0 or below, up to -99.

What does it mean for the magic power stat to be negative?

It becomes the fodder for my 1st skill, [Unyielding Commander].

[Unyielding Commander (魔眼)]

- You can control the consciousness of a target that makes eye contact, forcing them under your control.

- The lower the target's magic power stat, the higher the success rate of the skill, and the longer the duration.

※ The effect does not apply to allies under the effect of the passive skill [Unyielding Commander].

As it's clearly written here. The lower your magic power stat, the easier it is for my skill to work on you.

I gave him a sly grin.

"Now that our fun time has ended, let's have even more fun, shall we?"

[Activating Unyielding Commander.]

[Please make eye contact with your target.]

For a moment, the world slowed down.

The uniquely blue interface of using a skill spread finely across the world. I stared directly into the vampire king's red eyes.

[Target detected: 1]

[Please provide a command.]

"Celendion."

I reached out my index finger and whispered.

"Kneel like a dog."

Flash!

All of my magic power drained from my body in an instant.

My heart felt heavy. I adeptly wiped away the blood that burst from my nose. This sensation is now familiar.

[Command difficulty: Easy]

[Comparing the user's intelligence stat and the target's magic power stat.]

[Determining the success rate. Starting the resistance roll...]

Ding!

Before even a second passed since the resistance roll started, a bright blue spark appeared in front of me, along with the sound effect that signaled the completion of the evaluation.

There was no need to check the result.

[Evaluation completed!]

>Success: 1

[Executing the enforced command.]

There was no way I could fail.

The command's difficulty was not a problem. It's because that bastard's magic power stat was abnormally low.

As soon as my skill was activated, Celendion shook violently as if he had been struck by lightning. Well, he was actually struck by lightning earlier.

"Wha, t..."

Eventually, Celendion slowly kneeled in front of me, his forehead touching the ground.

A voice filled with terror seeped out from Celendion's mouth.

"I... Celendion, the ruler of all vampires... am mind-controlled by a mere human...?"

"…"

"Such a thing... It can't be possible...!"

I whispered softly to him, who was trembling and trying to lift his head.

"Keep your eyes down."

"...!"

Thud!

Celendion's forehead hit the ground once more.

Seeing the vampire king lying down in humiliation, I felt a rush of satisfaction. But that wasn't why I did this.

"Let me show you my new skill I've gained this time, Vampire King."

I pointed my finger at him again with a smirk.

The second skill that I've acquired was none other than.

[Become Mine!]

- It permanently turns a monster, which is under the effect of Unyielding Commander, into an ally.

- The said monster will gain 'Loyalty'. If the loyalty is high, the monster will obey the player's commands better, but if it's low, it can break free from the player's control.

- You can use 'Absolute Command' once on the said monster.

- This skill can only be used once per stage.

It's this.

This skill, simple and powerful, turns a monster under my mind control into a definite ally.

Everything's good except that the conditions are a bit tricky.

No matter how much I lower the difficulty of the command, most useful monsters have high magic power stats and are less likely to fall under my mind control in the first place.

But thanks to Junior's [Elemental Disassembly], even the Vampire King fell within the skill's range.

Then?

I had to use it!

"Celendion, you..."

I spat out the keyword of the skill.

"Become mine!"

Chrrrrr!

A dog collar, laden with chains, appeared out of thin air, clamping tight around Celendion's neck.

"Kuh?!"

Ding!

[Vampire Lord Celendion(SSR) has been enlisted on your side!]

- Current loyalty: 0/100

- Absolute Command: 1 time

Ah, the skill's effect was truly exhilarating. It worked instantly.

"What is... this..."

Celendion, despairingly staring down at the collar around his neck, bared his fangs at me.

"Don't joke, human! Do you intend to make me your pet?!"

"No, not at all."

I growled back menacingly.

"You're going to die."

Surely, having Celendion on my side would be beneficial. He was incredibly powerful.

But Celendion was a boss monster, and among them, he was of legion leader rank.

Managing his loyalty would be a task, and properly controlling him would naturally be difficult.

And above all...

"The morale of our forces that would be lost if you were kept alive surpasses the utility of keeping you alive."

This bastard had caused too much damage on this frontline. I couldn't even count how many of my heroes had been killed by him and his legion.

It was the same in the game.

When I made an enemy an ally with various mind control skills.

If it was a creature that had inflicted major damage on us, it adversely affected the morale of the human heroes and soldiers.

Ultimately, before I could properly utilize that enemy, the human soldiers would desert, or the morale would plummet due to negative traits, lowering the overall efficiency of the frontline.

It would be better not to recruit them, to prevent such results.

'The Monster Frontline is where humans fend off monsters.'

Even the policy of "controlling barbarians with barbarians" is just a temporary measure.

The protagonist of the frontline is always a human. This fact should not be forgotten.

'After cleanly killing this bastard... it's time to share the experience points.'

Actually, this was crucial.

If you enlist him, there's no boss kill experience points. Do you know how many levels we could gain by killing you?

I slowly rose and stretched out my hand, giving the order.

"Commander of the Empire's Southern Frontline, Ash 'Born Hater' Everblack, pronounces an immediate judgment on the Vampire Lord Celendion, who surrendered like a dog in humiliation."

"I never surrender-"

"Shut up! Celendion, you..."

What's the most appropriate punishment for a mosquito that disturbs sleep by sucking blood on a summer night?

Of course, there's only one.

"-Death penalty!"

I yelled it out loud.

"Death penalty! Death penalty! Death penalty! Death penalty-!"

Turning pale, Celendion was subject to my use of 'Absolute Command'.

"Commit suicide, Celendion! Until your last life, all of it!"