Chapter 326
"You won't get away with that!!"
Before I could even react to such a cheap shot, Nell leaped out from behind me and cleaved the Serpent Dragon Kin in two with a single stroke.
Against a one-headed Serpent Dragon Kin, Nell's firepower was complete overkill.
"Do you have any idea how much time and effort it takes to create these?""I won't listen to the words of a bandit!! Leave your head behind!!"
Just as I thought I could relax for a moment, more and more of them began slithering out from the crevices of the ruins with snake-like movements.
That bastard Grundt must be mass-producing them underground to cause chaos and escape in the confusion.
Unfortunately for him, we brought more firepower than he anticipated—me, Genjiro, the Entertainers, and even Duke Edelgard's private soldiers—so the only ones in chaos were the bandits being indiscriminately attacked.
"So, I'm telling you, I want to live more! I have no intention of throwing my life away so easily!""Mr. Grundt, help me!""Ah, perfect. You can be my shield."
A fleeing bandit begged Grundt for help, but Grundt shoved him without hesitation towards Genjiro, who was attacking.
"You fiend!!""I don't want to hear that from someone who casually cuts down the person *I* shoved!"
Grundt had managed to put some distance between us while Genjiro was dealing with the bandit-turned-obstacle, but...
"!?""Tch, that skill really is a pain!!"
I had circled ahead, completely erased my presence, and launched a surprise attack, but despite the level difference, Grundt dodged my Neck Hunt, albeit clumsily by rolling on the ground.
"That was close! Why don't you have any presence!?"
The reason Grundt survives so tenaciously in the original work is because of his Unique Skill.And it's the strongest evasion-type skill that players can absolutely never obtain.
"Tch!! Darting about so lightly! Cease your bizarre movements!!"
The moment he dodged my Neck Hunt, Genjiro followed up with a sword slash, but Grundt evaded that attack too.
Future Prediction.
Not future sight, but future prediction. Like the white devil in a certain robot anime, it gives an intuitive sense of impending danger and what future is coming, and even automatically performs the evasive action instantly. It's an auto-dodge motion skill.
"Here, you be a shield too!!""Eh!?"
Moreover, if he chooses to flee, it also indicates where the necessary items for escape are.
"Lightning Hound!!"
Lady Esmeralda's lightning with homing capabilities shot from a distance, but just before it hit, it missed because Grundt used a bandit as a shield.
Without even a glance at the charred bandit, he continued his escape, only to find...
"A four-headed one!!""My Lord! We will handle the serpents!!""I'm counting on you!!"
Three four-headed Serpent Dragon Kin were waiting.The Serpent Dragon Kin ignored Grundt passing by as if he weren't there and charged towards us.
"Men, attack!!"
In response, Genjiro and his red-armored men stepped forward to open a path for us to chase Grundt, who was running straight for the exit.
Grateful to Genjiro and his men for fearlessly engaging the monsters, I tried to continue the chase, but...
"The recast time is over!!"
Grundt's figure began to fade gradually.The recast time for the God-Hiding Robe, which had been dispelled by Genjiro's intuition, had ended, and he began to vanish like optical camouflage.
"Lord Liberta, that person is someone we can eliminate without issue, correct?"
It was the moment I thought he would escape.Ingrid, running alongside me with an expressionless face and holding her broom, asked me.
"! Yes! Eliminate him with full force! Everyone!! Clear the way from those things!!""Understood. Commencing cleaning now."
Using Lightning Step, Ingrid transformed into a flash of light and instantly leaped in front of the Serpent Dragon Kin.The red-armored warriors instantly acted upon my shout.
There were no allies in the line of fire.
And the three Serpent Dragon Kin were inferior to Ingrid.No matter how tough their skills were.
"Perfect Clean."
If you erase everything, it's meaningless.Where Ingrid swung, everything was cleanly erased.
Dozens of meters in the direction Ingrid swung were erased in an instant.
"Whoa, dangerous!? What is that!? That's way too unreasonable!!"
I didn't want to hear that from Grundt, the one with a Unique Skill, but I thought no one was more unreasonably effective at wiping out mobs than Ingrid.
The recast time was a bit of a drawback, but even considering that, this skill was still exceptional.
"Wha-!? The ground is collapsing!? If I get hit by that, I'll die, right!?""Of course. I am firing with the intent to kill. But, will you dodge this? It seems you will provide quite the entertainment."
Once again, Grundt dodged Ingrid's Perfect Clean with a bizarre posture, and by evading that attack, the effect of the God-Hiding Robe that had been active was dispelled.
Aiming for the now-visible Grundt, Claudia used Lightning Step to rapidly close in along the path opened by Perfect Clean and drove her fist into him. He rolled to dodge, but the spot where Claudia struck the ground caused it to crack.
"You're a cleric, right!? Do you think it's okay to kill people!?""Indeed, the teachings of God strictly forbid killing the innocent—""Then!?""Can you assert that you are without sin?"
Faced with the relentless, unreasonable onslaught, even his Unique Skill began to overload. His composed expression twitched, and Grundt scrambled backward on his rear, trying to put any distance he could.
He was desperate to appeal to our conscience and create an opening, but his words, "And you're the one saying that?" rang hollow.
When Grundt appears, a miracle of combined bad luck and misfortune activates, allowing him to escape.
So, when dealing with this guy, you must be without carelessness or overconfidence.
"I-It can't be!?""Heart Strike!"
I erased my presence and stabbed from behind.But he moved his body at the last possible moment to dodge that too.
"Neck Hunt!"
A combo from Heart Strike to the neck, a flowing attack from the thrusting posture to the neck.The skill Future Prediction detects and informs its user of critical danger and reflects it in evasion motions.
Among those action motions, there is the motion for fleeing.
"!?"
And it also includes motions like reluctantly putting an arm in the way to minimize damage when dodging becomes impossible.
"Adamantine Battle Axe!!"
The fact that he could even escape the fierce pursuit of Class 8 party members was strange to begin with.Stat-wise, evasion should be nearly impossible.
Even knowing about it beforehand, I didn't think he could completely avoid it.
Nell's axe strike, coated like diamond by the skill, was also dodged by Grundt twisting his body out of the damage range.
"Tch!!"
His movements might seem clumsy at first glance, but he was carefully considering the direction of his escape to avoid being surrounded by us.
Grundt no longer had the composure for smooth talk; his face was desperate as he fled.
The fact that he thought he could escape our physical abilities showed he placed complete trust in the Future Prediction skill.
He even managed to just graze Genjiro's slash aimed at his legs as he stepped in.
From that unbalanced posture, he somehow recovered into a running stance, and even when Claudia tried to suppress him with a horizontal kick at that moment, he ducked under it.
It truly was a skill players called a bug.
"Now it's a three-headed one!?"
And from behind Lady Esmeralda, who was about to unleash an area-effect spell, a three-headed Serpent Dragon Kin attacked, intercepted by the red-armored warriors.There were four of them.
By now, the one-headed ones were becoming rare, as the unusual individuals gathered in this area, seemingly to help Grundt.
One that slipped past the red-armored interception attacked Lady Esmeralda, interrupting her chant.
It was as if fate itself was telling us to let Grundt go.
It was the same in FBO.Grundt could be recruited as a villainous character.His stats upon joining were Class 4 / Level 110, a fairly developed state.
Of course, he hadn't maxed EXBP, so players considered him insignificant.
He had no notable skills besides Future Prediction, and his stance was to proactively avoid danger and only take the profitable parts, so his popularity among players was low.
Precisely because of that, players emerged who plotted to take down Grundt with a full-fledged, murderous party composition.They gathered skills and party members specifically designed to counter Grundt, even planning to make videos, and numerous players challenged themselves to defeat Grundt.
But what was the result?
Failure.
Through what could only be described as system protection, or a series of coincidences that could be called bugs, Grundt survived.
"Ingrid! Support Lady Esmeralda!!""Understood."
It was happening now too. Serpent Dragon Kin that shouldn't have been there until a moment ago attacked from all directions at this coincidental timing, cutting off our attack flow, with bandits acting as shields.
Considering the worst case, I sent Ingrid to guard the rear, dealing with the Serpent Dragon Kin attacking from behind.
A quick glance around showed a three-headed one and three two-headed ones attacking Claudia.A horde of one-headed ones attacked the red-armored warriors, and a combo of a three-headed and a four-headed one attacked Nell.
The Duke's private soldiers were also engaged in melee with bandits and Serpent Dragon Kin.Furthermore, three three-headed Serpent Dragon Kin were now heading towards me. Their position was bad to ignore, and going around would cost time.
"I won't let you escape!!!"
Only Genjiro, completely alone, had shaken off the Serpent Dragon Kin around him and was charging at Grundt.
Why is that? The question arose in my mind.
The difference was too blatant to dismiss as mere coincidence.
If even one of the combatants assigned to me or Claudia had been directed at Genjiro, he shouldn't have been able to reach Grundt.
That should have made it easier for Grundt to escape.Yet, even now, Genjiro was slashing at Grundt, forcing him to dodge in awkward postures.
Because I was attacking the Serpent Dragon Kin while opening a path for pursuit and watching Grundt, I noticed the difference between us and Genjiro.
So, where did the difference come from?Because I changed fate?Genjiro, who was supposed to go mad, could protect his family and now serves as my subordinate, wielding his martial prowess.But if that's the case, Lady Esmeralda should have experienced change too.
The Serpent Dragon Kin were attacking her as well.Then, was it because he's from the Eastern country?This also seemed unlikely.The Serpent Dragon Kin were also attacking his red-armored compatriots from the same homeland, and even in the FBO era, I had used a named ninja from the Eastern continent who was a pursuit specialist.
There's something, something else.
If I could figure out what that something is, I should be able to defeat Grundt.
"For now, you're in the way!!"
To investigate that 'something', I activated Mirage Phenomenon and used Neck Hunt to simultaneously behead one of the Serpent Dragon Kin.