Chapter 272
Continuous attacks immediately after judging that the attacks were effective.
"Defense units, intercept the tentacles! Don't let up the attack!! From here on out, each unit fires at their own timing!!"
We managed to attack unilaterally up to the third volley, but by the time the second volley hit, the Rainy Devil recognized us as enemies and changed its appearance.
In an instant, its skin color shifted to a warning shade of bright red.
It wasn't a gentle color like a sunset, but a blackish red like blood.
We players call that color 'Bloody Rain'.
The reason is that the sky turns the color of blood, and the tentacles become that color too.
It's the hue that indicates the Rainy Devil has entered combat mode, not feeding mode.
Once in combat, the Rainy Devil ignores tank hate management and can attack all targets generating hate equally.
If you wanted perfect hate management against this thing, I'd prepare at least four idol units of Amina's caliber, dispersing them to the four directions to manage hate.
We definitely can't do that this time.
That's precisely why we have this simultaneous, all-directional volley.
Even in this situation, the Rainy Devil's attention is directed everywhere. That means it's also wary of the sky above.
For now, we just keep attacking to make it pay even a little attention there.
"Drop units, stand by!!"*"ROGER!!"*
Seeing the posing of our trump card, the Muscle Spirit unit, I allowed myself a brief moment of amusement before returning to a serious expression.
I could see tentacles stretching towards the spirit corridors from which the ballistae were firing. It wasn't just one or two.
At least five, and up to ten tentacles were heading for the busiest spots.
When capturing prey, it tries to secure a lot of food with few tentacles. It's a cost-effective move, so to speak.
But when clear killing intent is directed at it, it responds not with cost-effectiveness but with appropriate killing intent.
The spirits stationed at the spirit corridors are organized into squads of six.One shooter, four guards, and one communications officer.
No matter how powerful its resistances are, they don't fully extend to the tentacles. The tentacles' resistances are somewhat lower, and magic attacks can affect them. However, no matter how much you damage the tentacles, it doesn't count as HP damage.
Below, a back-and-forth battle was unfolding: spirits continuously attacking from the spirit corridors, and tentacles stretching into those corridors trying to capture the spirits inside.
It was becoming a stalemate.
"Dark-san! Order the fourth volley to commence firing!!""Understood!"
The number of spirits participating as shooters this time is 240.The spirits participating as free-fall troops: 50.The spirits participating as bombing troops: 10.
I divided the shooters into four units total, committing them in stages. By varying our attack pressure, we can further draw the hate towards the ballista units.
The final ballista unit was committed, and their attack caused the Rainy Devil's movements to halt temporarily.
Taking advantage of that opening, we drove more ballista bolts into its body. We are definitely dealing damage. I can tell we are gradually whittling away its life force. But.
"Damage is less than 10% of the enemy's HP. We're dealing the planned amount of damage, but......"
There's no doubt things are proceeding as planned, but the flip side is that we only have as much leeway as planned.
"I'm glad we placed that additional order for reserve arrows.""I wondered what you were thinking when you asked for an extra two thousand.""I believed Dark-san could do it.""Well, I'll let it slide since I learned about some interesting items besides the live shows afterward. If it were anyone but you, Commander, I would have refused."
Just to be safe, we secured additional arrow materials and gave each unit extra arrows. Thinking "we still have reserves" when firing arrows allows for a calmer approach to battle than thinking "this is all we have."
In fact, we still have enough composure for Dark-san to crack a little joke while managing communications.
"Alright, it's about time."
I continued staring intently for a while, checking the arrow consumption and the spread of hate for about 10 minutes.
Factoring in the Rainy Devil's natural regeneration rate and calculating the timing from the ratio to our damage resources, I judged the moment had come.
"Dark-san! We're transitioning to Phase Two as planned!! Shooters, pay utmost attention not to aim at the upper area!""Understood! Announcement! Announcement!! Transitioning to Phase Two! I repeat! Transitioning to Phase Two! Shooters, switch to firing formations that account for the drop troops!"*"YESSIR!!"*
But, combined with Dark-san's appearance, these orders suit him well. I briefly entertained the random thought that maybe his next costume should be something military-like, then shook it off and focused on combat management.
The firing lines gradually lowered. As that happened, the areas where damage was effective became limited, making it harder to hit, but for them, who had trained extensively, targeting a specific part of the Rainy Devil was a piece of cake.
They responded accurately to Dark-san's orders, concentrating their firepower on the ideal spots.
Their attack speed also maintained the ideal rate I had in mind; it's truly impressive.
During the real thing, people often get flustered, making their attack speed faster than imagined, or conversely, slower thinking "this should be enough." That's natural, and I accounted for it by providing extra arrows, but their coordinated fire is so flawless it makes you错觉 think "no worries are needed."
The occasional roar of magic beautifully accentuates the clean attacks, like sound effects for artillery fire.
"Now then, everyone, it's your turn!"*'Leave it to us, Commander!! We just finished warming up our muscles!!'**'Behold! These beautiful muscles!!'**'Do you think a mere jellyfish can withstand these mighty muscles?!'**'Hey!! There's a watermelon on your shoulder!!'**'HAHAHAHAHA!!!! LET'S MUSCLE!!'*
Following those clean attacks comes this muscle group. The images from the communication crystals show the spirits posing.
I almost want to ask why they're so perfectly synchronized, but their passion is reassuring right now.
Subtly encouraged by the cheers of the support spirits sent with them as a team, the Muscle Meteor unit's morale is skyrocketing.
"Dark-san, broadcast the drop countdown to all units.""Understood! The drop troops will now commence their attack! I repeat! The drop troops will now commence their attack! 10 seconds!!"
The groundwork for the muscle spirits to land safely was laid. For a final check, I looked down at the Rainy Devil. It was distracted by the arrows from the spirits attacking from below, making its vigilance towards the sky negligent.
Its wariness of the sky is a wariness towards World Monsters that patrol the same world as the Rainy Devil.
They are equal in strength, meaning they are not entities to be preyed upon, but monsters that could potentially prey on *it*, so it can't easily let its guard down.
It also understands that its weakness is attacks from above. Given its form, specialized for ground attacks, it's no exaggeration to say it allocates its greatest defense against attacks from above.
It's confident it can withstand anything but the most extreme attacks from peer monsters, and its combat style is a counter-attacking one: once it blocks, it closes to ultra-close range, entangles with tentacles, inflicts status ailments, and devours.
Because it has fought such battles repeatedly, hate towards the sky is constantly active.
The attacks from below should have significantly reduced that hate.
Dark-san's countdown kept decreasing. I continued staring intently at the Rainy Devil's movements until it reached one second remaining.
"Drop!!"
With Dark-san's voice, the die was cast.
*"YEEEEEE-HAWWWWWWW!!!!"*
Fifty muscle-men jump down energetically. They have no convenient parachutes on their backs.
But they possess not a shred of fear. Rather, they enjoyed the skydive.
Boss!! Muscles are falling from the sky!?!
To see a scene that seemed to warp the very direction of surprise, I looked up at the muscle-men diving from an altitude even higher than my spirit corridor.
The Rainy Devil is usually at mid-level altitudes, around 2,000 to 7,000 meters. But this time, it had lowered its altitude to near ground level to capture prey.
Therefore, if the muscle-men dive from 3,000 meters, adding gravitational acceleration plus skills that increase their own weight like 'Heavy Stance', transforming into high-speed projectiles...
...a muscle meteor is born, flying past at high speed. The one that passed before my eyes did so a mere 20 seconds after the drop signal.
A normal skydive would take about a minute, but they are falling at three times the normal speed.
The reason for this descent velocity is a posture that's normally impossible. The Muscle Meteors adopt a shoulder-tackle pose towards the ground, minimizing air resistance to the limit and piling acceleration upon acceleration.
What my eyes caught was a skill reminiscent of an RPG earth-attribute spell that metalizes the entire body, rendering one immobile but invincible in exchange. Using that, they ensured defense and acceleration, then layered more skills to skyrocket their defense further.
Mass × Velocity × Defense × Muscle.
Such an equation floated into my head.
And before impact, I muttered the answer to that equation.
"Equals, that is—"
But before I could finish stating it, the muscle-men, faster than the Rainy Devil's intercepting alert network could catch them, slammed their trained muscles into its body.
"—Destructive Power."
It was precisely because the Rainy Devil is elastic and highly durable that they didn't *pierce* through it.
No, it's more accurate to say they *chose* not to pierce through. The goal was not damage but to smash the Rainy Devil into the ground.
Therefore, because the muscle group activated the 'Tackle' skill, their attack prioritized knockback effects over damage.
That's why explosive sounds rang out everywhere.
No, the impact sounds were just so loud they *sounded* like explosions.
Then, with a delay, due to that knockback effect, the Rainy Devil's massive frame momentarily lost the ability to stay aloft with its own buoyancy.
And was slammed into the ground.
Crushing trees, altering the terrain, it crashed down in a way that partially overlapped with the ancient ruins of Madalda.
Before the Rainy Devil could recover its posture, I moved my eyes busily, confirming that the entire muscle group had evacuated into their own spirit corridors, and finally, seeing the spirit who became the leader of this muscle drop force flash a white-toothed smile and give a thumbs-up.
"Bombardment!! Shooters, close your spirit corridors!!""Cease fire!! Shooters, evacuate!! And commence bombardment!!"*"YESSIR!!!"*
I gave the order for the third phase: bomb deployment. The destructive power of those bombs risked engulfing the shooters who had been firing from a distance, so I also gave the evacuation order.
"Hold nothing back!! Unleash every single bomb!!""Did you hear that, everyone?! Let's make it spectacular!!!"*"YESSIR!!!!"*
A quantity of bombs equivalent to several years of a national budget.
Dark-san nodded at my order not to hold back, relayed it to the spirits, and immediately, bombs began raining down past us.
One bomb landed on the 'umbrella' of the Rainy Devil, which had been smashed to the ground and was beginning to lift off to recover.
And the explosion didn't stop at just one.
To destroy the umbrella that the Rainy Devil trusted as its means of defense.
A rain of bombs, crafted without cutting corners by the high-ranking dark spirits and provided with materials by us, now began to pour down.