Chapter 41: One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy

If the Fafnerheimlen was left unchecked, all of Polsius may be doomed.

In the original game, I was used to fighting this boss in an enclosed dungeon. The fight was difficult in and of itself, but now, I had to worry about protecting civilians.

"Tch."

There was no way I would be able to minimize the casualties. With the Fafnerheimlen loose, it wouldn't take long before all of Gerandum became mindless minions. Then, the monster would turn toward Zweizen. It tended to travel toward the place with the densest population of humans or demons.

"Do you have a plan?" Marigold ask me.

"I know how to defeat it, but we'll have to kill any human that it turns into a minion. Are you prepared for that?"

Marigold took a resolute breath and said, "Yes. I'm prepared for that outcome."

"I'll do whatever is necessary to end that monstrosity," Typhon said.

"I must fight that powerful creature and prove that I'm the greatest!" Sakimi proclaimed. "Remove this anti-magic rune so I can unleash my spells!"

I shook my head. "I don't trust you yet, Sakimi."

"Bah! You annoying human!"

I ignored the girl and laid out my plan.

"This'll be a risky fight. If any of you gets turned into a minion, I can cast a powerful anti-hex spell, but I don't specialize in dark magic, so I won't be able to cast very many of them."

I took out my grimoire and flipped to the page titled "Curse Breaker." After tapping on the spell, I equipped it in place of Chromius. My other spell was Rejuvenation, and I kept that in case I needed healing.

Then, I continued, saying, "The Fafnerheimlen's only weak spot is its head. If we don't have a flying mount, the only way to bring it down is to attack the legs, but the flesh and tentacles regenerate at a drastic rate. Typhon, I believe you can deal enough burst damage to take one down, though."

"That's right," Typhon replied.

His special attack powered up his sword, coating it in hyper-dense mana that allowed it to slice any shield or magic barrier. Out of all the special attacks in the game, it dealt the third-highest single-target damage.

"Typhon, while you take down one leg, Marigold and I will put all our firepower into the other one. Once we sever both feet from the ankles, that will be our chance to dish as much damage to the head as possible before it can regenerate. If all goes well, we can take it down in one go. Do you all understand?"

Marigold and Typhon both nodded their heads, while Sakimi rolled her eyes, saying, "You know, I can blast one of its legs to pieces with a single Supernova."

"I still don't trust you."

"Hmph!"

Sakimi wasn't lying that Supernova would work, but I'm sure Marigold and I could deal enough burst damage ourselves. I would only consider breaking Sakimi's runestone if it was my last resort. Even then, she could just turn on me. It wouldn't be worth the risk.

Soon enough, we reached Gerandum.

"Get to safety," Typhon said to the driver. "And stay close by in case we need to make a getaway."

"Understood," he said, heading off.

All through the streets, the people were panicking, fleeing toward Zweizen.

"What are they doing?" I yelled. "They'll just lead the Fafnerheimlen to a larger city!"

"It's not like they have any other place to go," Typhon said.

"Dammit. You're right."

The Fafnerheimlen was less than a half-mile away, and it was closing the distance fast. Then, it shined its spotlight directly on Gerandum's city square.

"Get it in the shadows!" I screamed.

The light engulfed an entire street, hitting hundreds of people who were trying to escape. Their eyes glowed white, indicating that they had turned into the Fafnerheimlen's minions. The minions then turned against their fellow citizens, biting and clawing like ravenous beasts.

We couldn't do anything about the massacre since one step out of the shadows would leave us vulnerable to the cursed light. We could only watch in horror as the city fell into chaos.

I tried to keep my composure so that the others wouldn't panic, but immense terror threatened to swallow me whole.

"When the Fafnerheimlen gets close, stay right next to its feet," I said. "At that angle, it won't be able to hit you with the light. You'll only have to watch out for its hands, and you'll have to try not to get stomped."

Everyone else nodded.

Soon enough, the sounds of destruction rung out like a symphony, and the stomping grew louder and louder as the Fafnerheimlen approached. The minions tried to attack us, but Marigold shot most of them with arrows before they could get too close.

A few moments later, that the rumbling was strong enough to knock us off-balance. Typhon and Marigold started getting anxious.

I held them back and said, "We need to wait until it's directly on top of us,"

"Alright," they both replied.

I stuck my head out and peeked upward. Sure enough, the Fafnerheimlen was right there, looming like a harbinger of utter doom.

"Run!" I screamed.

We all dashed under the shade of the building across the street as the Fafnerheimlen flattened our previous hiding spot. We had to run through a horde of minions, but Typhon and I cleared a path for Sakimi and Marigold.

Once we were all in the shade, I grabbed a nearby corpse and ripped out its heart, placing it in my inventory.

"Sorry," I said to the dead body.

A human heart was one of the ingredients for the resurrection potion. Now, I only needed archdemon blood, the tears of the first spirit, and a cursed weapon.

Now that the Fafnerheimlen was standing in the middle of the street, I yelled, "Attack!"

Typhon took the left leg while Marigold and I took the right one. We all unleashed as many blows as possible, but the Fafnerheimlen wasn't going to let us do what we wanted. It swung its flail arms, forcing Marigold and me to dodge.

I reached out and grabbed Marigold's hand before she could get too far, preventing her from getting hit by the light.

"Stay closer to the foot!"

Marigold nodded in response. Then, she unloaded a volley of explosive arrows onto the target. The Fafnerheimlen raised its right foot in an attempt to flatten us, but it was too slow and predictable. I easily initiated a perfect dodge which allowed me to throw an Angelic Blaze and follow up with seven more slashes.

Slowly, but surely, we were wearing away at the flesh faster than it could regenerate itself.

On the other side, Typhon seemed to be fairing well. His speed and agility were immense, allowing him to evade every attack while slicing the leg. He even managed to take down any minions that approached.

"Are you ready yet?" Typhon asked Marigold and me.

"Almost!" I said.

Marigold placed a glowing arrow on her bow and yelled, "Leviathan Piercer!"

The arrow flew like a crimson laser, blasting straight through the ankle and creating a ginormous hole. Leviathan Piercer was immensely powerful, but it wasn't even a special move. It was only a type of enchanted arrow.

On the left foot, Typhon said, "God-Shattering Slash!"

His sword became engulfed in a blinding white light, and he dashed forward, severing the foot entirely.

Now that both of the Fafnerheimlen's legs had been debilitated, it slowly fell forward.

"Clear the area!" I yelled.

The few survivors followed Marigold and me as we sprinted away to avoid the falling body. The head ended up landing on top of some buildings that were quite a distance away from us.

Since the Fafnerheimlen was so tall, we would have to cover all of that ground in a short amount of time if we wanted to be able to attack the head.

I equipped my Wing Boots and slung Marigold's arms around my shoulders. Then, I jumped, launching like a rocket. I landed on a shop's roof and leaped two more times until we made it on top of the Fafnerheimlen's head.

Typhon was so fast that he had already made it there before us. Once I joined in on the fight, I activated Silent Sting, striking the obsidian surface and causing Armor Melt. This helped Typhon and Marigold do even more damage to the monster.

Eventually, Marigold charged up her special move, and she yelled, "Moirae of Catastrophe!"

She fired three arrows—one red, one black, and one yellow. Each one flew in an erratic pattern, finally impacting the Fafnerheimlen's head. The red one unleashed a fiery explosion, the black one inflicted poison, and the yellow one inflicted paralysis.

This was great. Now, we could attack the monster even more.

"Typhon!" I said. "Do you have your special attack again?"

"No. I need more mana!"

Shit.

I thought it would be ready by now. If he could use his special attack again, we would have been able to kill the Fafnerheimlen, especially since it had Armor Melt.

After a few more seconds, the ground rumbled once again as the gigantic beast pushed itself up and stood back on its newly-healed legs.

"Dammit!" I yelled. "Come on, guys! We need to knock it down again!"

I wanted this fight to be quick and clean, but the Fafnerheimlen still had thirty-one percent of its health remaining. Each time we knocked it down, it would become harder to destroy the legs, and on top of that, it could heal its own health over time.

At this point, half of Gerandum was already destroyed. If we took too long, the Fafnerheimlen would kill even more people.

Just then, a booming voice resounded through the streets, reaching every nook and cranny of the city.

"Ares, the Hierophant," the voice said. It was slightly distorted, but it sounded like it came from Thello.

"I have surrounded the entire capital in a sacrificial circle. If you don't arrive for a duel in the next hour, every citizen here will die."